US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will soon hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to bring home US citizens detained in Russia.

Blinken was speaking at a news conference at the State Department on Wednesday.

He said high on the agenda in the scheduled telephone talks are the release of women's pro-basketball star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan.

Griner, a two-time Olympic medalist, has been held in Russia since February and is on trial on drug charges.

Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, was detained in 2018 on espionage charges.

Blinken also said he would be speaking to Lavrov about issues related to the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine.

But Russia's state-run Tass news agency quoted a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson as saying the country has not been approached formally by Washington.

If Blinken and Lavrov hold talks, it will be the first time since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February.