MANILA, July 23: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in the Philippines for talks where he was expected to renew the prospect of the US trying to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
The US and Russia did not immediately provide details of the meeting on the sidelines of an annual gathering by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.
Three days of closed-door talks that started Tuesday have focused on the resurgent war in the Middle East, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and, closer to home, the South China Sea, where a new clash flared Thursday.
US efforts to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war have dropped off as indirect talks stalled and the Iran war took center stage. Renewed strikes by Washington and Tehran have been intensifying after an interim ceasefire deal collapsed.
Rubio told reporters in Manila on Wednesday that he plans to raise the conflict in Ukraine with Lavrov, saying that the US remained open to playing a role in ending the conflict “if that opportunity presents itself.”
He acknowledged that those efforts have “kind of fallen off a little bit over the last few months” but said the meeting would explore whether there’s an opportunity to renew talks.
“We have to have a relationship with the Russian government, even though we have areas of disagreement,” Rubio said, noting that they are two largest nuclear-armed countries.
Lavrov, speaking to reporters at the ASEAN meeting, said he would ask Rubio about the latest statements by US President Donald Trump predicting that a settlement is getting close.
“I will ask Marco Rubio about it tomorrow,” Lavrov said.
Expectations for renewed discussions about ending the war comes as Ukraine has made significant progress this year but a rift between defense leaders has threatened to derail its efforts. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has undertaken a major government reshuffle, including its top military brass.
But Ukraine would not be the only issue on the table. Rubio said he would use the meeting to find other areas of potential cooperation between the US and Russia – the kind of wide-ranging agenda that the ministers have touched on in their huddles around the ASEAN meeting.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong renewed her country’s alarm over the Chinese navy’s recent test-launch of a missile from a nuclear-powered submarine in the region, which she said “came with too little information and notification, including to the Philippines – over which the missile flew – and Pacific nations, near where the missile landed.”
“It comes in the context of a rapid military build-up of China’s nuclear arsenal without the transparency or reassurance the region expects,” Wong told a university forum in Manila on Thursday. “This is why Australia has described the test as provocative and destabilizing.”
China has defended its actions, saying the launch was part of annual exercises and that it gave countries in the area appropriate notice in advance. (AP)
