US secretary of state and Russian foreign minister hold phone call to discuss "restoring communication" between countries

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, discussing the "restoring communication" between the two countries.

Source: US Department of State

Quote: "The Secretary informed Russia of US military deterrence operations against the Iran-backed Houthis and emphasised that continued Houthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated."

Details: Rubio and Lavrov also discussed the next steps following recent meetings in Saudi Arabia and "agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia".

Background:

• On 13 March, Witkoff visited Moscow. The Kremlin stated that "additional signals" had been transmitted to Trump through him.
• On the same day, Putin responded cautiously to the US proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, neither rejecting it outright nor accepting it, but suggesting that Moscow might set its own conditions.
• Trump said Putin had made a promising statement but insisted it was incomplete. He also said that if Russia did not agree to a 30-day ceasefire, it would be "a very disappointing moment for the world".
• On 14 March, Trump announced that Washington had had "very good and productive discussions" with Putin.
• Rubio said there were "reasons to be cautiously optimistic" regarding the negotiations on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

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