Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a telephone conversation on Saturday, discussing the ongoing situation in Ukraine and the potential removal of “unilateral barriers” imposed by the former US administration, according to an official statement from Moscow.
Peace interviews to end the war in Ukraine will start in the coming days after US President Donald Trump shocked European allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and declaring an immediate start to the negotiations.
During the call on Saturday, which was initiated by the US side, Lavrov and Rubio agreed to work on restoring “mutually respectful interstate dialogue” in line with the tone set by the presidents, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The two agreed to maintain contacts to solve problems in bilateral connections, “in the interests of removing the unilateral barriers of mutually advantageous trade, financial and investment cooperation that has been inherited from the previous administration,” the statement states.
It was not immediately clear what specific barriers were discussed.
“The two sides expressed their mutual willingness to interact with pushing international issues, including the settlement of Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.”
The United States under former President Joe Biden and Kyiv’s allies all over the world imposed waves of sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine three years ago, which aimed to weaken the Russian economy and limit the Kremlin’s war effort.
Trump and Putin spoke for over an hour on Wednesday, the first known direct contact between US and Russian presidents since Putin received a call with Biden shortly before ordering tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also said Lavrov and Rubio discussed how to tighten the conditions for functioning Russian diplomatic missions in the United States.
“It was agreed to organize a meeting with experts in the near future to agree on specific steps to mutually remove obstacles to Russian and US missions abroad,” the ministry said in its statement.
