Russian and US Foreign Ministers Conclude Talks in Manila

MANILA /Philippines/, July 23. /TASS/. Talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Manila have concluded, the meeting lasting more than half an hour, or 37 minutes, a TASS correspondent reported.

Lavrov and Rubio, together with their delegations, left the meeting room at 12:31 p.m. local time (07:31 a.m. Moscow time, or 04:31 a.m. GMT). The meeting began at 11:54 a.m. local time (06:54 a.m. Moscow time, or 03:54 a.m. GMT) and proceeded according to schedule. As previously reported, Rubio’s next bilateral meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center was scheduled for around 12:25 p.m. local time (07:25 a.m. Moscow time, or 04:25 a.m. GMT).

During the conversation, the parties planned to focus particular attention on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. Lavrov noted on the previous day that Moscow proceeded from the assumption that Washington had not yet abandoned the proposals put forward in Alaska.

According to a diplomatic source, the US side initiated the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State.

Representing the Russian side in the negotiations were Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Foreign Policy Planning Department Alexey Drobinin, and Russia’s Permanent Presidential Representative to ASEAN Yevgeny Zagainov. Representing the US side were Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker and Special Presidential Envoy Sergio Gor.