While no details have yet emerged from Friday\u2019s exchange, Rubio told reporters after Thursday\u2019s talks that the two sides had discussed a possible \u201cnew and different approach\u201d to reviving peace efforts over Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t characterise it as something that guarantees peace,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s a concept that I\u2019ll take back to the president.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lavrov said on Friday that he set out the Kremlin\u2019s position on settling the war. \u201cWe discussed Ukraine. We confirmed the position that President [Vladimir] Putin had outlined, including in his July 3 conversation with President [Donald] Trump,\u201d Lavrov told Russian media on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the diplomats held a \u201csubstantive and frank exchange\u201d of views on Ukraine, as well as on Iran, Syria and broader global issues.<\/p>\n
The meeting marked a rare moment of direct engagement between Washington and Moscow as bilateral relations remain fraught. However, Russian officials downplayed suggestions that ties were deteriorating.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/13184061-1752215666.jpg\")
A group photo at the 58th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers\u2019 meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 10, 2025 [Hasnoor Hussain\/EPA].<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not agree that the positive trend in relations between Moscow and Washington is fading,\u201d Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the RIA news agency. \u201cI think that the current US administration acts in a zigzag manner. We don\u2019t dramatise over this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryabkov said a new round of US-Russia talks on unresolved bilateral issues could be held before the end of the summer.<\/p>\n
Despite the strain, both Moscow and Washington appeared to leave the door open to further dialogue, though with caution. \u201cWe are talking, and that is a start,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cBut much depends on what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top US, Chinese diplomats set to meet<\/p>\n
Rubio, on his first official trip to Asia since assuming office, is also set to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. The in-person meeting is their first and comes as the US aims to reassert its presence in the Asia Pacific.<\/p>\n
The US secretary of state is attending the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum, which brings together key players including Japan, China, Russia, Australia, India and the European Union.<\/p>\n
The flurry of diplomatic meetings comes amid worsening US-China trade relations. Beijing has warned Washington against reintroducing sweeping tariffs next month, after being slapped with duties exceeding 100 percent during earlier tit-for-tat exchanges.<\/p>\n
China has also warned of retaliation against countries that support efforts to exclude Beijing from critical global supply chains.<\/p>\n
While Rubio\u2019s trip signals a renewed US focus on Asia, tensions stemming from Trump\u2019s global tariff strategy continue to cast a long shadow.<\/p>\n
From August 1, steep import tariffs targeting eight ASEAN nations, including Malaysia, as well as close allies Japan and South Korea, are due to take effect.<\/p>\n
Washington has said the move is part of its effort to \u201crebalance trade,\u201d but critics warn the policy could undermine the very partnerships the US is seeking to strengthen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Positive trend\u2019 in US-Russia ties remains despite Washington\u2019s \u2018zigzag\u2019 policy, Moscow says. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,1202,1204,1076,1205,129,3,1201,111,1206,963,1203,1207,104,1208,21,19,22,20,25,1209,24],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-asean","tag-asia-pacific","tag-europe","tag-malaysia","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-opinions","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-sergey-lavrov","tag-syria","tag-trade-war","tag-ukraine","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-canada","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}