Rubio has ‘frank’ talks with Russia’s Lavrov in Kuala Lumpur

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting on July 10.

PHOTO: REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he expressed the United States’ frustration that more progress has not been made on ending the war in Ukraine in a meeting on July 10 with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

“It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,” Mr Rubio said of his 50-minute talks with the Russian foreign minister on the sidelines of the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Malaysia.

He said he expressed to Mr Lavrov what US President Donald Trump has said publicly, “that there’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict.”

The envoys’ second in-person meeting came amid

intensified Russian attacks in Ukraine

Mr Trump has grown increasingly - and publicly - frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war drags on.

Mr Rubio said he and Mr Lavrov shared some ideas, including “a new or a different approach” from the Russian side, which he would relay to Trump upon his return.

“We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,” Mr Rubio said.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement said there was “a substantive and frank exchange of views” on the situation around Ukraine, Iran and Syria.

Russian drones and missiles bore down on the Ukrainian capital early on