Lavrov unable to speak to Kerry due to busy African tour schedule – Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax) – The Russian Foreign Ministry has explained why Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was unable to promptly discuss the situation following North Korea’s latest nuclear test with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

“I would like to respond to the recent inaccurate remarks of U.S. Department of State spokesperson Victoria Nuland,” ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a press briefing on Thursday.

“Nuland claims that U.S. Secretary of State Kerry has allegedly been unable to reach Foreign Minister Lavrov on the phone for a second day in a row,” Lukashevich said.

“Indeed, we were asked by Washington on February 12 to urgently arrange a telephone conversation between Lavrov and the newly appointed U.S. secretary of state in light of North Korea’s nuclear test,” he said.

“Regrettably, it was impossible to do so at that moment due to the busy schedule of Lavrov’s visit to African countries,” he said.