Russian Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State had a phone conversation: what did they discuss?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a telephone conversation, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

"At the initiative of the American side, a telephone conversation took place between the heads of the foreign ministries of the two countries," the statement said.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov and Rubio reached an agreement on the following issues during the phone conversation:

1-Work towards restoring dialogue based on mutual respect.

2-Continue contacts to resolve the accumulated problems in the relations between the two countries.

3-Work on preparing the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

4-Take steps to tighten the working conditions of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States, ending the line started by Obama.

5-Organize a meeting of experts to agree on steps to eliminate mutual obstacles to the work of foreign missions of Russia and the United States.

6-Cooperate on Ukraine and the Middle East.

No other details are reported.

Recall that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke on the phone for almost an hour and a half on February 12. According to Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, the leaders discussed issues related to the exchange of Russian and US citizens, as well as the situation in Ukraine. The presidents also touched upon other topics: the Middle East settlement, Iran's nuclear program, and Russian-American bilateral relations in the economic sphere.

Putin and Trump agreed to continue personal contacts and to organize a meeting. This phone conversation has become a topic of heated discussion. Leading European politicians and the media have even started talking about a “Putin-Trump peace.”