NEW YORK (Realist English). On September 22, the US State Department published the public schedule of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, confirming that his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take place on September 23 at 9:00 a.m. US Eastern Time in New York, which corresponds to 4:00 p.m. Moscow Time. According to the schedule, protocol filming is planned before the start of the meeting.
The meeting is taking place within the framework of the high-level week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. Lavrov arrived in New York on September 22 at the head of the Russian delegation; his plane landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Lavrov’s Visit Program: More Than 30 Meetings
Lavrov’s program in New York is packed. According to TASS, more than 30 bilateral and multilateral meetings are planned for him during the General Assembly. The talks with Rubio are designated as the first important item on the program — Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed that Lavrov’s program in New York will begin with the meeting with Rubio.
Lavrov’s main address at the General Assembly is scheduled for September 26.
Focus of the Talks: The Ukrainian Issue
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, at the meeting with Rubio, Lavrov plans to clarify the US State Department’s position on the Ukrainian issue, including the American side’s mediation efforts. Lavrov had previously stated that he intends to use this meeting to clarify Washington’s specific approach to settling the Ukrainian conflict.
This meeting of the heads of the foreign ministries will be the first in-person contact between the top diplomatic officials of the US and Russia in two months. The previous meeting took place on July 23 on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 23 — the timing overlap increases attention to the Ukrainian topic.
Cooperation at the UN: Unrealized Potential
The Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia that Lavrov and Rubio will also discuss cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the UN. The Russian side notes that as permanent members of the UN Security Council, “Russia and the US possess enormous potential for developing cooperation,” but “this potential remains largely unrealized.”
The Foreign Ministry also stated that after Trump’s return to the White House, “Washington’s policy at the UN has become more pragmatic,” and noted that the main disagreements between Russia and the US “arise not because of the Americans, but because of the European side, which continues to follow the Brussels political line.”
Visa Scandal: Alimov Did Not Receive a US Visa
The visit is accompanied by diplomatic friction. According to Interfax, the American side refused to issue a visa to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov, as a result of which he was unable to take part in the UN General Assembly events as part of the delegation. The Kremlin called this decision an “unfriendly step” and stated that this issue would be raised in contacts with the American side — “the country where the UN headquarters is located should not allow such actions.”
