US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a "frank conversation" today on the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced after their meeting, quoted by Agence France-Presse, writes BTA.
"A substantive and frank exchange of views took place on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, the situation in Iran and Syria, as well as on a number of other international issues", the Russian diplomatic department said in a statement.
"The mutual desire (...) to restore economic cooperation between Russia and the United States was also confirmed", the ministry added.
Rubio said today after his meeting with Lavrov that the United States and Russia had exchanged new ideas for peace talks on Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.
"I think this is a new and different approach", Rubio told reporters and added: "I would not characterized it as something that guarantees peace, but that's a concept that, as you know, I will convey to the president." He did not provide further details.
The US Secretary of State said that President Donald Trump was "disappointed and disappointed that there has not been more flexibility on the Russian side" to end the conflict.
"I echoed the words of the President (Donald Trump) expressing disappointment and disappointment with the lack of progress," Rubio said after the nearly hour-long meeting.
"We need to develop a plan for how this conflict can end. And we shared some ideas about what that could look like," the US Secretary of State noted.
"We will continue to cooperate where we see opportunities for real change," Rubio added.
The US Secretary of State also said that he could possibly meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Malaysia, Reuters reports.
"We are working on it, maybe we will meet," Rubio said at a press conference.
According to him, the US hopes for a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is optimistic that talks to bring positions closer will take place soon.
"I think we are closer (to an agreement) - perhaps closer than we have been in a long time. "here," Rubio said, adding that he spoke with Witkoff last night.