In brief
At the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov announced a short but constructive conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, praising Washington’s openness to dialogue and defending a diesel‑fuel deal against Congressional criticism. Rubio, meanwhile, urged G20 members to concentrate on economic cooperation while Laval’s comments highlighted Russia’s objections to U.S. sanctions and military aid to Ukraine.
Anadolu Agency on Friday reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he had a "not bad, though brief" conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia.
At a news conference, Lavrov described the meeting as constructive, noting that both officials discussed cooperation in multilateral forums such as the UN, the G20 and APEC, and welcomed Washington’s willingness to maintain dialogue at various levels.
He defended a diesel‐fuel deal between Russia and the United States, stating that Moscow has no restrictions on selling its energy resources and would support mutually beneficial arrangements, but cautioned that the deal faced criticism in U.S. Congress and was not a breakthrough in relations. Lavrov also said that U.S. sanctions against Russia remained in place and that continued military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine showed no real progress in practice.
In a separate speech at the G20 reception, Rubio urged member states to strengthen economic cooperation and focus on practical solutions to shared challenges. He highlighted trade, fiscal and monetary policy, emerging technologies and energy as key discussion topics for the G20 presidency, welcoming Poland’s participation as a full member of this year’s process.
The two‑day ministerial meeting, hosted by Secretary of State Rubio, has set the stage for the forthcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit scheduled for December 14–15 in Miami, Florida.
