ISTANBUL

Moscow and Washington, DC, on Tuesday discussed what the former described as “certain aspects” of preparation for the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Alaska later this week.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on the phone about the two presidents' upcoming meeting, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement.

“Both sides confirmed their determination to successfully hold the event,” the statement added.

The phone call comes three days ahead of a meeting between the two presidents in Alaska on Friday to discuss ways to end the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which nears three-and-a-half years.

The upcoming talks will be the first face-to-face meeting between sitting Russian and US presidents since June 2021, when Putin met then-US President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland.