Berk Kutay Gökmen
23 July 2026•Update: 23 July 2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila, the Philippines.
“We had a good conversation, a frank conversation,” Rubio told reporters, without elaborating on the details of the talks.
Noting that both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war “have an incentive to bring it to an end,” Rubio said that the US wants a peace deal to end the war.
“We are prepared to play a constructive role and bring about an end to a senseless war, and we're ready to do that… So we talked about other things as well,” he said.
“We're prepared to play whatever positive role we can to end the war, and that in order to end this war will require something that both Russia and Ukraine can agree to.”
On US social media company X, Rubio wrote that during the meeting with Lavrov, “We discussed the U.S.-Russia relationship and the need to end the Russia-Ukraine war.”
Lavrov and Rubio met in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, which is hosting an ASEAN summit and meetings with its partners.
The meeting, the first since last September, lasted around 37 minutes and also covered the state of bilateral diplomatic ties between Moscow and Washington.
The two sides mostly focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict, which is in its fifth year since Russia launched its “special military operation” in February 2022.
Rubio and Lavrov appeared before the media ahead of the talks. Rubio was joined by US Ambassador to India and Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor, State Department Counselor Dan Holler and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker.
Lavrov was accompanied by Russian Ambassador to ASEAN Evgeny Zagaynov, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko and Russian Foreign Ministry Foreign Policy Planning Department Director Alexey Drobinin.
