US Sec State Blinken will meet with Russia Foreign Min Lavrov late next week

Reuters reporting.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price:

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accepted a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov late next week "provided there is no further Russian invasion of Ukraine"

'Risk' getting a little tailwind from this. Plenty of hopium about .... EUR caught a wee bid.

Spokesman adds:

• "If they do invade in the coming days, it will make clear they were never serious about diplomacy. We will continue to coordinate with our Allies and partners and push for further engagements with Russia through the NATO-Russia Council and OSCE,

Why 'late next week'? Don't events have the potential to move A LOT faster than that?

A shooting war, should there be one, could be done and dusted by then.