The diplomatic war is coming to an end: details of the first conversation between Lavrov and Rubio

On February 15, at the initiative of the American side, a telephone conversation took place between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This is reported by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"As a follow-up to the telephone conversation between the Presidents of Russia and the United States on February 12, the foreign ministers agreed to maintain a communication channel to solve the accumulated problems in Russian-American relations in the interests of removing unilateral barriers inherited from the previous administration to mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation. A mutual attitude to cooperation on topical international issues was indicated, including the settlement of the situation around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and in the Middle East and other regional areas in general," the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

It is noted that the parties exchanged views on ways to end as soon as possible the line initiated in 2016 by the administration of Barack Obama "to tighten the conditions for the functioning of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States as much as possible, which, of course, entailed retaliatory measures." Lavrov and Rubio agreed to organize a meeting of experts in the very near future to coordinate steps to remove obstacles to the work of Russian and American missions abroad.

The parties also confirmed their readiness to work together to restore a mutually respectful interstate dialogue in line with the tone set by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

"We have agreed on regular contacts, including for the preparation of a Russian-American summit meeting," the Foreign Ministry concluded.