Russian, US top diplomats discuss Ukraine, restoring relations in phone call

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call on February 15, agreeing to maintain regular contact in preparation for a future meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced.

According to the ministry, the call took place at the initiative of the United States and focused on key international issues, including Ukraine, Palestine, and broader developments in the Middle East, Caliber.Az reports.

"The two sides expressed their mutual willingness to interact on pressing international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and in general in the Middle East and other regional directions," the ministry said in a statement.

Lavrov and Rubio also discussed the need to restore diplomatic dialogue between Washington and Moscow.

"Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio reaffirmed their readiness to work together to restore mutually respectful interstate dialogue in line with the tone set by the presidents," the statement added.

The call comes just days after Trump and Putin held their first known direct conversation since Trump returned to office. On February 12, the two leaders spoke for over an hour, marking the first such contact between a U.S. and Russian president since Putin’s call with Joe Biden in early 2022, shortly before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.

According to the Kremlin, Trump expressed support for the swift cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the issue. In response, Putin emphasized the need to address the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace negotiations, the Russian leader’s press service stated.

The U.S. president wrote on the social media platform Truth Social that Moscow and Washington would immediately begin negotiations on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

By Vugar Khalilov