Rubio and Lavrov to hold bilateral meeting on 23 July

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on 23 July, following a brief discussion on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum.

Lavrov said the two sides agreed during their short meeting the previous day to meet again for more substantive talks.

“We met with Rubio yesterday and confirmed that the meeting will take place tomorrow in the first half of the day. I hope we will have the opportunity to share our impressions afterwards,” Lavrov said.

Rubio confirmed that the meeting would include discussions on the war in Ukraine.

“The United States remains open and prepared to play a constructive role in bringing the war to an end, if such an opportunity arises - and it may well do so. I believe we are probably the only country capable of playing that role and I think the Russians would agree,” Rubio said.