Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held constructive dialogue amid preparations for the upcoming summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest.
Two officials discussed the possibility of holding another face-to-face meeting during a detailed phone call on Thursday last week.
The two leaders agreed that delegations from both sides will instantly start preparing for a summit, with Budapest being the likely venue, according to Putin’s top aide Yuri Ushakov.
Trump, while terming the phone conversation very productive, said he and his Russian counterpart could meet in Hungary within two weeks, after high-level delegations meet next week.
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Earlier, the two leaders met in Alaska on August 15, which marked the first face-to-face direct meeting between the sitting US and Russian presidents ever since the start of the three-and-a-half-year-long Ukraine war.
Russia’s foreign ministry, confirming the high-level diplomatic meeting, said in a statement that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a “constructive” dialogue on “possible tangible steps to implement the understandings reached” during the Putin-Trump phone call last week.
While the statement did not reveal the specificity of the dialogue between the two top diplomats, the statement later issued by the US State Department also posted limited details about the meeting, saying the two ministers spoke to “discuss next steps following the October 16 call.”
The statement further said, “The Secretary stressed the importance of forthcoming engagements as a chance for Moscow and Washington to cooperate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war, in line with President Trump’s vision.”
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