عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Lavrov, Rubio Discuss Removal of ‘Barriers’ Set by Previous US Administration, Russia Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Sudanese counterpart addresses a press conference during a meeting in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Sudanese counterpart addresses a press conference during a meeting in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20
TT

Lavrov, Rubio Discuss Removal of ‘Barriers’ Set by Previous US Administration, Russia Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Sudanese counterpart addresses a press conference during a meeting in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Sudanese counterpart addresses a press conference during a meeting in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (AFP)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the situation in Ukraine on Saturday, as well as the removal of "unilateral barriers" set by the previous US administration, Moscow said.

US and Russian officials are to start talks in the coming days on ending Moscow's war in Ukraine after US President Donald Trump shocked European allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and declaring an immediate start to the talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Kyiv would not engage with Russia before consulting with strategic partners.

Lavrov and Rubio, in a call initiated by the US, agreed to maintain contacts to resolve problems in bilateral relations, "in the interests of removing the unilateral barriers to mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation inherited from the previous administration," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what barriers were discussed.

The US under then-President Joe Biden and Kyiv's allies around the world imposed waves of sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine three years ago, aimed at weakening the Russian economy and limiting the Kremlin's war efforts.

The US State Department said Rubio reaffirmed in the call Trump's commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

"In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues," it said in a statement, without providing further detail.

Russia said Lavrov and Rubio "expressed their mutual willingness to interact on pressing international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and in general in the Middle East in general".

They agreed to work on restoring "mutually respectful interstate dialogue" in line with the tone set by the presidents, the ministry said.

Trump and Putin spoke for over an hour on Wednesday, the first known direct contact between US and Russian presidents since Putin had a call with Biden shortly before ordering tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Rubio also discussed how to quickly improve "the conditions for the functioning of Russian diplomatic missions" in the US.

Experts will meet soon "to agree on specific steps to mutually remove obstacles to the work of Russian and US missions abroad," the ministry said.

Most Viewed

 
World

Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
TT
20
TT

Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.

Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.

Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense".

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan.

Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest, Reuters reported.

'GOAL IS NO WAR'

Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada.

Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.

The war games will span thousands of kilometers from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defense Force.

The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters.

"I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.

US Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war".

"If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said.

The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.