KUALA LUMPUR, July 10. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized his discussion with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Kuala Lumpur as frank and important.
"We’ll continue to engage, we shared some ideas and comments which I’ll take back to Washington. <...> It was a frank conversation, it was an important one, we had it. And we talked about some other items as well unrelated to the war in Ukraine, but that was, obviously, the first and foremost topic that we discussed," Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The top US diplomat emphasized that Washington's current strategy involves continued engagement in peace efforts while maintaining communication with all parties to the Ukraine conflict. "We’re going to continue to stay involved where we see opportunities to make a difference," Rubio added.
The meeting between Lavrov and Rubio took place in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, marking their first face-to-face discussion since their February 19 encounter in Riyadh during US-Russia delegation talks.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce announced on July 7 that Rubio would visit Kuala Lumpur on July 8-12 for ASEAN-related meetings and bilateral negotiations. Lavrov is making an official visit to the Malaysian capital on July 10-11.