The Washington administration is ready to hold meetings with Russian officials, provided such contacts will contribute to resolving the Ukraine conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said as he took reporters’ questions before traveling to occupied Palestine.
"We’d still like to meet with Russians," he said. "I had a good call with [Russian] Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov and we’ll follow up on that," the top US diplomat added. "We will always be interested in engaging if there is an opportunity to achieve peace," Rubio emphasized.
Commenting on the latest US sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, the US secretary of state said, "I think the president has said repeatedly for a number of months now that at some point he will have to do something if we don't make progress on the peace deal. Today was the day he decided to do something."
On October 21, Lavrov stated that Russia has not altered its stance compared to the understandings reached during the Alaska summit between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Donald Trump of the United States that a lasting and sustainable peace is needed rather than an immediate ceasefire that would lead nowhere. Russia’s top diplomat said he had reiterated this to Rubio in a phone call on October 20.
MNA/
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