On 15 February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a telephone conversation at the initiative of the US side. The Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
‘As a follow-up to the telephone conversation between the Russian and US presidents on 12 February, the foreign ministers agreed to maintain a channel of communication to resolve the accumulated problems in Russian-US relations in the interests of removing unilateral barriers inherited from the previous administration on the path of mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation. The two sides agreed to cooperate on topical international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and in general in the Middle East and other regional areas,’ the ministry said in a statement published on its website
It is noted that the parties exchanged views on ways to put an early end to the line started in 2016 by the administration of Barack Obama ‘on the maximum tightening of conditions for the functioning of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States, which, of course, entailed retaliatory measures’. Lavrov and Rubio agreed to organise a meeting of experts in the nearest future to agree on steps to mutually remove obstacles to the work of Russian and American foreign missions.
The sides also reaffirmed their readiness to work together to restore mutually respectful interstate dialogue in line with the tone set by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
‘They agreed on regular contacts, including for the preparation of the Russian-American summit meeting,’ the Foreign Ministry summarised.