Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a "productive exchange of views", the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.
"The productive exchange of views on key aspects of the Russian-American political dialogue, which has recently been significantly intensified, continued," the ministry noted. The Russian Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State agreed to continue contacts at all levels.
The ministry specified that the main emphasis was on the topic of the Ukrainian crisis. “Following the April 25 conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President's Special Envoy Stephen Witkoff, the Minister and the Secretary of State stressed the importance of consolidating the emerging prerequisites for starting negotiations in order to agree on a reliable path to long-term sustainable peace“, it is noted there.
Earlier, Russian leader Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian president was ready to resume the negotiation process with Ukraine without preconditions.
Lavrov also discussed the issue of resolving the Ukrainian crisis with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira in Rio de Janeiro.
The top Russian diplomat will take part in a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in the Brazilian city on April 28-29.