Lavrov, Rubio Pledge to Work on Settling Ukraine Conflict: Moscow

Russia said Saturday Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had spoken with US Secretary of Marco Rubio by phone, agreeing to show will for “cooperation” on Ukraine and to work to restore dialogue.

The call came ahead of an expected summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin amid mounting concern from Ukraine and its European allies that the pair will strike a deal without them.

The call came days after the US president’s call to Putin ended almost three years of no contact between Moscow and Washington during the Ukraine conflict.

“On Feb 15 on the initiative of the American side a phone call was held between the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation S. Lavrov and Secretary of State of the USA M. Rubio,” said a Russian foreign ministry statement.

They had expressed a “mutual willingness for cooperation on topical international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and the whole of the Middle East, as well as other regional areas”, it added.

The call came a day after US Vice President JD Vance delivered a scathing speech criticising European nations at the Munich security conference

“S. Lavrov and M. Rubio confirmed their readiness to work towards restoring a mutually respectful inter-government dialogue in line with the tone set by the presidents,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

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Kristersson’s comments followed an emergency meeting held by French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to leaders of 19 countries.

“They agreed on regular contacts, including for the preparation of a Russian-American summit meeting on a high level.”

Trump has said he will meet Putin in Saudi Arabia, without giving a date for the summit.

According to Moscow, Lavrov and Rubio pledged to “maintain a channel of communication to resolve the accumulated problems in US-Russian relations”.

Under Joe Biden, Washington hit Moscow with a barrage of economic sanctions for its Ukraine offensive.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s commitment to end the war in Ukraine in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, the State Department said.

“The secretary reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine,” spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

“In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues.”