The Second Phone Call: Rubio-Lavrov

The awaited phone conversation initiated by Rubio with Lavrov has occurred. Here’s the MFA’s readout:

On February 15, at the initiative of the American side, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Miguel Rubio.

As a follow-up to the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States on February 12, the foreign ministers agreed to maintain a channel of communication to resolve the accumulated problems in Russian-US relations in the interests of removing the unilateral barriers to mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation inherited from the previous administration. They outlined their mutual commitment to cooperation on current international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and in the Middle East and other regional areas in general.

An exchange of views took place on ways to end as soon as possible the policy launched by the Obama administration in 2016 to tighten the conditions for the functioning of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States as much as possible, which, of course, entailed retaliatory measures. It was agreed to organise a meeting of experts in the very near future to coordinate specific steps to remove obstacles to the work of the foreign missions of Russia and the United States.

Sergey Lavrov and Miguel Rubio reaffirmed their readiness to work together to restore mutually respectful interstate dialogue in line with the tone set by the presidents. We agreed on regular contacts, including to prepare for the Russian-US summit. [My Emphasis]

So, sanctions removal will be initiated by the US Secretary of State in coordination with Russia’s Foreign Ministry. Plus, the issue of the theft of Russian property beginning with the diplomatic properties will be one of the first to be dealt with. These are promising starting points given the vast volume of issues needing resolution, not all of which can be handled by the two foreign ministries. A number of sanctions were imposed by Congress and getting them overturned will be very troublesome as Russophobia runs very deep in that institution. Hopefully, VP Vance’s lashing of the Europeans along with Hegseth’s realism will also touch the many Congressional Cold Warriors and give them pause. How much cooperation “on current international issues” occurs going forward awaits to be seen, but those words are encouraging. It appears Russia’s negotiating team will be formulated by the Security Council and announced by the President’s Office as Zakharova said in her briefing.

There’s much more to muse about, but this news needed to be reported. I suggest watching Judge Napolitano’s Intel Roundtable discussion from yesterday the 14th for their initial views. Also worthy is Strategic Culture’s Editorial related to The Phone Call.

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