‘We need to see a roadmap’ As Trump grows frustrated with Putin, U.S. and Russian senior diplomats discuss a ‘new approach’ to Moscow–Kyiv peace talks
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Malaysia on Thursday to discuss a path towards ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. The talks, which marked the first high-level meeting between U.S. and Russian officials since February, took place amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the latter’s reluctance to engage in peace efforts. According to Rubio, Thursday’s meeting yielded some “new ideas” that he plans to take back to the White House, even if this “different approach” seems unlikely to guarantee peace. Here’s what Rubio and the Russian Foreign Ministry said about the discussion.
Thursday’s meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took place on the sidelines of the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur. The discussion lasted about 50 minutes.
Speaking at a press briefing afterwards, Rubio told reporters that the Russia–Ukraine war was the main topic of the discussion, which he described as a “frank” and “important” conversation. Rubio also said that he and Lavrov had “shared some ideas” for future peace talks. However, the secretary of state did not provide any further details.
“I think it’s a new and different approach,” Rubio told journalists. “I wouldn’t characterize it as something that guarantees peace, but it’s a concept that I’ll take back to the President today.”
Rubio added that U.S. President Donald Trump has been “disappointed and frustrated that there’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side” to bring about an end to the war:
I expressed what the President said publicly, which is that we feel as if we’ve dedicated a lot of time and energy to this matter, and just not enough progress has been made. We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude.
Asked about the Trump administration’s strategy for ending the war, Rubio replied that they plan to continue to engage all parties involved. “We will engage anytime that we have an opportunity to do so, like we did today,” he said.
In response to a question about Trump’s willingness to impose further sanctions on Russia, Rubio said that this option remains open. “Obviously, the President needs flexibility on how those sanctions would be applied and when, because it gives him maximum leverage in any conversation and negotiation. So, he has talked about that as being a real option,” he said.
Lavrov did not give comments to journalists after Thursday’s talks. In a short press release, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that he and Rubio had “compared notes on the entire spectrum of issues on the bilateral agenda and the global situation,” including the “settlement in Ukraine” and the situation in Iran and Syria. The statement also said that the two sides “reaffirmed their mutual commitment to searching for peaceful solutions to conflict situations” and to restoring bilateral economic and humanitarian cooperation.
Back in February, Lavrov and Rubio led the delegations for the first direct talks between Russian and U.S. officials since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That meeting took place in Saudi Arabia and resulted in an agreement between the two sides to lay the groundwork for fully restoring bilateral ties, which had been effectively frozen due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
But in recent weeks, President Trump has repeatedly expressed disappointment over his conversations with Vladimir Putin, admitting that he’s made “no progress” in trying to convince the Russian leader to end the war. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
