Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call allegedly at the initiative of the American side to discuss the future of bilateral contacts between Moscow and Washington and recent Istanbul peace talks, Russian state-controlled media reported on May 17.
Lavrov reportedly welcomed what he described as a "constructive" role by Washington in encouraging Kyiv to accept President Vladimir Putin's proposal to resume peace talks in Istanbul.
The foreign ministry said Rubio reportedly, in turn, praised the agreement on a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner-of-war exchange and noted both sides' efforts to outline conditions for a potential ceasefire.
The call came a day after Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on May 16, speaking for less than two hours without reaching a breakthrough.
Ukraine had proposed an immediate ceasefire, an all-for-all POW exchange, and a face-to-face meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Moscow's delegation demanded Kyiv withdraw from four partially occupied Ukrainian oblasts Russia illegally claims as its own — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
Before the Istanbul peace talks, Rubio said he didn't expect negotiations to yield meaningful progress, calling the low-level Russian delegation "not indicative of one that’s going to lead to a major breakthrough."
"I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm 100% wrong. I hope tomorrow the news says they've agreed to a ceasefire, they've agreed to enter serious negotiations," Rubio told reporters during a briefing in Ankara.
Andrew Chakhoyan
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