Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov claimed on Tuesday that a meeting between the Russian and US top diplomats is being coordinated, in a comment on media reports claiming the meeting was scheduled for this week and later postponed.
Ryabkov said: "What has not been agreed upon yet cannot be postponed."
"And we will continue in the future, I am sure, to face a situation where different information sources, especially Western ones, will engage in unfounded fabrications for the purpose of creating news items, causing speculation and raising questions, all of which are widely disseminated and analysed, often from an angle favorable only to Westerners," he said.
Last night, the US media claimed, citing sources in the White House, that the meeting between Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, prepared over recent days, had been "indefinitely" postponed.
Ryabkov further added that there is no agreement on the venue for the meeting between Lavrov and Rubio, noting that "everything remains under consideration."
The date for consultations between Russia and the US aimed at removing irritants in bilateral relations has yet to be finalised, he added.
“It’s important to note that contacts with Americans across various channels have never ceased, and formats vary. Sometimes things do end up on paper, although perhaps not always in the form of notes but rather in other styles or genres,” he said.
Asked about topics that the Russian foreign minister and US secretary of state may discuss, Ryabkov said the conflict in Ukraine will "feature prominently" on the agenda.
“Of course, issues related to the special military operation and the line pursued by the Western group supporting Ukraine, which does not suit us, will also be discussed," he said.
Economic topics will also figure as they, too, "require attention,” he said, adding that Russia and the US also have “many issues on their bilateral agenda."
Trump had said earlier this week that “high-level advisers” from both countries would meet to prepare for a potential summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, following a call with Putin, according to CNN.
He wrote on Truth Social that the US delegation would be led by Rubio “together with various other people, to be designated.”
The last Trump-Putin summit took place more than two months ago in Anchorage, Alaska, lasting nearly three hours without producing a deal.
Trump has since urged Kiev and Moscow to “stop the war immediately.”
Trump, who previously claimed he could settle the Ukraine-Russia war in a matter of hours, has shown frustration with both Moscow and Kiev over the failure to broker peace.
Putin has rejected multiple calls for a ceasefire and stuck to a list of hardline demands that Kiev sees as unacceptable.
