Moscow says Lavrov and Rubio held talks on Ukraine war

MOSCOW: In their first telephonic conversation on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the situation in Ukraine and the "unilateral barriers" established by the previous US administration, Moscow said.

Peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine are to 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 talks.

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 resolve problems in bilateral relations, "in the interests of removing the unilateral barriers to mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation inherited from the previous administration," the statement said.

It was not immediately clear what specific barriers were discussed.

"The two sides expressed their mutual willingness to interact on pressing international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East."

The US under former President Joe Biden and Kyiv's allies across the world imposed waves of sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine three years ago, aimed at weakening the Russian economy and limiting the Kremlin's war efforts.

Trump and Putin spoke for over an hour on Wednesday, the first known direct contact between US and Russian presidents since Putin had a call with Biden shortly before ordering tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

The Russian foreign ministry also said that Lavrov and Rubio discussed how to tighten the conditions for the functioning of Russian diplomatic missions in the US.

"It was agreed to organise a meeting of experts in the very near future to agree on specific steps to mutually remove obstacles to the work of Russian and US missions abroad," the ministry said in its statement.