Manila, July 22 (IANS) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Wednesday that he will be meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 23, on the sidelines of the ongoing multilateral Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) events in the Philippines.
“The meeting has already been agreed upon,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Russian media following his participation in ASEAN meetings on Wednesday.
Lavrov mentioned that he met with Rubio briefly at a reception on Tuesday, where it was confirmed that the meeting would take place on the morning of July 23.
“Russia, Lavrov explained, still operates on the assumption that the United States has not abandoned the proposals voiced last August at the Russian-American summit in Anchorage. He stated that he ‘carries close to his heart’ the statements made at that time by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. The implementation of such initiatives, according to the Russian Foreign Minister, will serve as a testing ground for resolving the conflict in Ukraine and developing relations between Moscow and Washington,” leading Russian daily Izvestia reported.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has told Senators that Russia and China were helping Iran as Tehran resumed attacks on commercial shipping and the United States intensified military operations around the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth disclosed the assistance during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Donald Trump’s request for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding. About $67 billion of the package is intended for the military.
Republican Senator John Hoeven asked whether Moscow and Beijing were helping Iran and, if so, how.
“There are ways in which both of those countries are limiting at different levels, enabling some of the things Iran is doing. Yes,” Hegseth said.
He did not disclose the nature or scale of the assistance. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also declined to discuss the intelligence publicly.
“I’d rather not opine on the specifics because that would divulge what we know and I never want the adversary to know what I know. I just want to know it,” Caine said.
The disclosure came as Hegseth said US forces had struck Iranian targets for a 10th consecutive evening following renewed attacks on commercial vessels.
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