US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in the Philippine capital Manila. Both ministers confirmed the meeting.
Speaking to reporters in Manila, Rubio said his primary focus in the meeting would be potential ways to end the war in Ukraine. The US secretary said, "Frankly, the war in Ukraine has in many ways hindered the ability of Russia and the US to find areas of agreement on other issues." Rubio added, "That doesn't mean we won't look for other potential areas of cooperation," hinting that nuclear arms control could also be on the agenda.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for his part, said after the Russia-ASEAN ministerial meeting, "The meeting has already been arranged. We briefly saw Marco Rubio at a reception yesterday and confirmed it will take place in the first half of the day tomorrow."
Lavrov said he would remind Rubio of US President Donald Trump's remarks earlier this month that a peace deal in Ukraine is "closer than people realize." The Russian minister added that Moscow continues to operate on the assumption that US officials "have not yet backtracked" on proposals they made at last year's presidential summit in Alaska.
Trump has been trying to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine since returning to the White House last year. However, the US-mediated negotiations have stalled since Trump ordered strikes on Iran in late February.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has hardened his stance on peace negotiations due to Ukraine's continued long-range strikes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the report as "speculation."
