The meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session on September 25 was held in a constructive atmosphere, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS.
“There was a constructive atmosphere, truly a working one. The agenda following the Anchorage summit was discussed, with a focus on the situation around Ukraine, and, again, in furtherance of the understandings achieved in Alaska, the search for paths to a peaceful resolution was acknowledged. Of course, work was underway, as the American side stated, on the root causes of the crisis and their resolution. The broad agenda of bilateral relations was considered. There was a constructive working atmosphere,” she noted.
“I believe this is the first meeting, not in a truncated one, but standard bilateral negotiations. Everything that happened before—in the Middle East or Asia—was, after all, targeted contacts and meetings. This time we had full-fledged, full-scale negotiations, as is traditionally expected,” she said.
Zakharova said Lavrov will share his assessments at his press conference on Sept. 27 following his address to the General Assembly.
Commenting on recent harsh statements against Russia by U.S. President Donald Trump, Zakharova remarked: “I think this is a tactic, a strategy, a political maneuver for talks.”
The U.S. Department of State issued a short statement on the Lavrov-Rubio meeting by Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott, in which he reported that Rubio “reiterated President Trump’s call for the killing to stop and the need for Moscow to take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war.”
