U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Manila on Thursday morning, UNN reports citing CNN.
Details
"None of them answered journalists' questions about whether Russia supports Iran by helping attack American troops, or whether Moscow plans to stop the full-scale invasion of Ukraine," the publication says.
Russia may be helping Iran in strikes on CIA facilities - Reuters23.07.26, 02:13
Later, a statement from the U.S. State Department confirmed that the two envoys discussed "U.S.-Russia relations and the need to end the war between Russia and Ukraine."
On Wednesday, a journalist asked Rubio whether he planned to pressure Lavrov on Ukraine during their meeting.
"I don't know if 'pressure him' is the term. We are going to talk about it," Rubio replied.
"Obviously, the war in Ukraine has in many ways hindered the ability of Russia and the United States to find areas of agreement on other issues; that does not mean we will not seek to find other areas of potential cooperation," he said.
"But at the same time, we would like this war to end... so we will raise this issue," Rubio added.
When asked what role the U.S. plays in achieving an end to the Russian-Ukrainian war, given that negotiations have reached a deadlock, Rubio replied: "Perhaps new conditions have now emerged that will allow this conversation to take place."
"That is one of the things we will consider tomorrow during our conversation," he added.
During the 2023 and 2024 election campaigns, U.S. President Donald Trump stated dozens of times that he would end the war in Ukraine either within 24 hours of his return to the White House, or even sooner.
More than 500 days after the start of his second term in office, the war is still ongoing, and peace negotiations, the publication notes, are barely progressing.
Meanwhile, the U.S. war with Iran has also escalated into a series of deadly strikes between both sides.