The telephone dialog between the senior officers comes amid a thaw in relations following years of tensions over the Ukraine battle
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a telephone name with Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday, as Washington and Moscow work to revive bilateral relations and advance negotiations for a Ukraine ceasefire.
In response to an announcement from the US State Division, Rubio and Lavrov mentioned steps to reestablish direct communication between the 2 international locations.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke immediately with Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov. [They] mentioned subsequent steps to observe up on latest conferences in Saudi Arabia and agreed to proceed working in direction of restoring communication between america and Russia,” the assertion learn.
The decision follows high-level talks in Saudi Arabia on February 18, by which Washington and Moscow agreed to assign groups to work on resolving the Ukraine battle, restore embassy operations, and deal with different factors of rivalry in bilateral relations. Since then, further discussions have been held in Istanbul, specializing in diplomatic funding and a proposal from Moscow to reinstate direct flights between Russia and the US.
Within the telephone name, Rubio additionally briefed Lavrov on US navy strikes in opposition to Houthi militants in Yemen, stressing that continued Houthi assaults within the Crimson Sea “is not going to be tolerated.” US President Donald Trump introduced on Reality Social on Saturday that the US had launched a navy motion in opposition to the group, citing its “unrelenting marketing campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism in opposition to American and different ships, plane, and drones.”
No additional particulars have been offered on the US-Russia name. Following talks with US officers on March 11 in Saudi Arabia, Kiev agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. Trump’s particular envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Moscow on Thursday to current Russian President Vladimir Putin with the main points of the proposal.
Putin has welcomed the ceasefire in precept, however insisted on addressing a number of points earlier than its implementation, together with the destiny of Ukrainian forces at present encircled in Russia’s Kursk Area. Whereas the main points of Witkoff’s assembly with Putin haven’t been made public, Trump hinted at progress, stating that the White Home had obtained “some fairly excellent news” relating to the ceasefire efforts and that US-Russia conferences over the previous a number of days have been “very productive.”
Supply hyperlink
