VIENTIANE /Laos/, October 11. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said even as he didn’t speak directly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the 19th East Asia Summit (EAS) the two top diplomats "heard" each other.

"With regard to Minister Lavrov, no, we didn't speak directly, but I was in the room when he made his intervention on behalf of Russia. He was in the room when I made my intervention on behalf of the United States," the top US diplomat told a news conference. "So, I think it's safe to say that we heard each other," Blinken said adding that he didn’t hear "anything new, unfortunately," about the Ukraine conflict from Russia.

The annual East Asia Summit is held on the sidelines of meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Between 2005 and 2010, the venue brought together 16 countries, namely, the ASEAN-Plus Three (APT), consisting of 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK) as well as Australia, India, and New Zealand which joined them. Since 2011, the East Asia Summit has been attended by Russia and the United States.