Rubio and Lavrov held their first phone call in six months

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed relations between Moscow and Washington by phone for the first time in more than half a year.

This was reported on Tuesday, May 5, by the Russian Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department.

“The heads of the foreign policy agencies compared notes on the current international situation and Russian-American relations, and also discussed the schedule of bilateral contacts,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott, the phone call took place at the initiative of the Russian side. Lavrov and Rubio discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine as well as the war of the United States and Israel against Iran.

The last time Lavrov and Rubio spoke by phone was on October 20, 2025. At that time, the sides discussed possible steps toward ending the fighting in Ukraine, as well as a new Russian-American summit involving Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest, which ultimately never took place.