KUALA LUMPUR
Moscow and Washington on Thursday confirmed their mutual commitment to finding “peaceful solutions to conflict situations,” as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Kuala Lumpur.
A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov and Rubio, building on the agreements reached during a phone call between the Russian and US presidents last week, conducted a “thorough comparison” of issues concerning Moscow-Washington ties and the situation in the world.
“A substantive and frank exchange of views took place on the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Iran and Syria, as well as a number of other international problems,” the statement said, referring to talks held on the sidelines of the 58th ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in the Malaysian capital.
The statement said the two diplomats confirmed their countries’ mutual commitment to finding “peaceful solutions to conflict situations,” as well as restoring bilateral economic and humanitarian cooperation, and unimpeded contacts between their societies, which it said could be facilitated particularly through the resumption of direct air traffic between the two countries.
It added that the importance of further work to normalize the functioning of diplomatic missions was underlined.
“Constructive and mutually respectful dialogue between the foreign policy departments of Russia and the United States on an expanding range of issues of mutual interest will continue,” the readout said.
Russian state news agency TASS said the talks lasted for about an hour.
US authorities, however, have yet to release a statement on the talks.
