Washington, DC - Secretary Michael R. Pompeo spoke Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about Ukrainian political prisoner Oleh Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike for more than three months in a Russian prison.

The Secretary noted our concerns about Sentsov’s health and urged Russia to immediately release Sentsov and all Ukrainian political prisoners. The Secretary discussed the ongoing challenges in Syria and the United States’ serious concerns related to possible military activity in Idlib. He asked Foreign Minister Lavrov to support efforts in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as well as efforts to hold the Syrian regime accountable for its use of chemical weapons.