The ‘positive trend’ in the ties of the United States and Russia remains despite the ‘Zigzag’ policy of Washington, says Moscow.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, again in the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the ASEAN in the Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, according to the state agency of Russia, with the war in Ukainine the key.
The conversation followed a longer meeting of 50 minutes between the two main diplomats the previous day.
While there have been no details of Friday’s exchange, Rubio told journalists after Thursday’s conversations that the two parties had discussed a possible “new and different approach” to revive peace efforts on Ukraine.
“I would like to characterize it as something that guarantees peace,” he said, “but it is a concept that I will take to the president.”
Lavrov said Friday that he established the position of the Kremlin to establish the war. “We discuss Ukraine. Confirms the position that the president [Vladimir] Putin had described, even in his July 3 conversation with the president [Donald] Trump, “Lavrov told the Russian media out of the Asean meeting.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that diplomats heroes a “substantive and Franco” or opinions about Ukraine, as well as Iran, Syria and broader world problems.
The meeting marked a rare moment of direct commitment between Washington and Moscow as bilateral relations is still tense. However, Russian officials minimized the suggestions that ties were deteriorating.
![A group photo in the 58th Association of Nations of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) Meetings of Foreign Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 10, 2025. [Hasnoor Hussain/EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/13184061-1752215666.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C495&quality=80)
“I do not agree that the positive trend in relations between Moscow and Washington is fading,” said Sergey Ryabkov to the RIA news agency. “I think the current administration of the United States acts in a Zigzag way. We do not dramatize this.”
Ryabkov said that a new round of Russia conversations in the United States about bilateral problems not resolved before the end of summer could be held.
Despite the tension, both Moscow and Washington seemed to leave the open to an additional dialogue, care with caution. “We are talking, and that is a beginning,” Rubio said. “But much depends on what comes later.”
Top Us, Chinese diplomats that will meet
Rubio, on his first official trip to Asia since he assumed office, will also meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur, Friday. The meeting in person is the first and arrives when the United States aims at Rassert is present in Asia Pacific.
The United States Secretary of State is attending the Eastern Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum, which brings together the key actors, including Japan, China, Russia, Australia, India and the European Union.
The burst of diplomatic meetings occurs in the midst of writing commercial relations between the United States and China. Beijing warned Washington against the reintroduction of radical rates next month, after being slapped with tasks that exceed 100 percent of the previous exchanges of Tit-Forfor Tat.
China also warned of reprisals against countries that support efforts to exclude Beijing from critical global supply chains.
While Rubios’s trip points to a renewed approach in the US.
As of August 1, the important imports aimed at eight nations of the ASEAN, including Malaysia, as well as the nearby allies of Japan and South Korea, must be entered into force.
Washington has said that the measure is part of its effort to “rebalance trade”, but critics warn that politics could undermine the same associations as the United States strengthens.
