In brief
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described a brief meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta as “not bad, though brief.” Lavrov praised Washington’s willingness to keep dialogue open and defended a diesel‑fuel deal between the two countries. Rubio urged G20 members to focus on economic cooperation amid the summit’s broad agenda.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Friday that he held a brief, but constructive, conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Atlanta.
Lavrov said the Washington side welcomed Moscow’s willingness to maintain dialogue and discussed cooperation in multilateral forums such as the UN, the G20 and the Asia‑Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group.
He defended a diesel‑fuel agreement that Russia has supplied to the United States, saying Moscow does not restrict its energy exports and welcomes mutually beneficial arrangements. Lavrov noted that the deal has faced criticism in U.S. Congress and that Washington’s sanctions against Russia remain in place.
Lavrov criticized continued U.S. military assistance to Ukraine and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, saying,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Therefore, we do not see any real progress in practice.
In a parallel speech, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged G20 members to strengthen economic cooperation and work together to address shared challenges.
Secretary Rubio highlighted trade, fiscal and monetary policy, emerging technologies and energy as priority topics for the G20 presidency. He praised Poland’s participation in the G20 process and said the U.S. hoped the meeting would lay a strong foundation for the upcoming Leaders’ Summit in December.
Both diplomats emphasized the need for the G20 to focus on its core economic mission and avoid escalating differences into confrontation, setting the stage for the December summit in Miami chaired by President Donald Trump.
