RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to meet on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings in Kuala Lumpur, both Moscow and Washington have confirmed.
“A meeting is being worked out,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti, in reference to the planned bilateral discussion.
The US State Department schedule further confirmed the meeting, listing: “6:00 p.m. LOCAL \[10:00 GMT] Secretary Rubio meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.”
Lavrov is in Kuala Lumpur for ministerial meetings from 10 to 11 July, during which he is expected to participate in several formats, including the Russia–ASEAN dialogue, the East Asia Summit (EAS), and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
According to Zakharova, Lavrov will also hold additional bilateral meetings with regional partners while in Malaysia.
The meeting between Lavrov and Rubio would mark a rare direct engagement between the top diplomats of Russia and the US, coming amid global tensions and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific.
The East Asia Summit involves not only ASEAN’s 10 member states—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—but also its dialogue partners, including China, Russia, and the United States.
Malaysia assumed the rotating ASEAN chairmanship for 2025, hosting this week’s high-level foreign ministerial gatherings in Kuala Lumpur. - July 10, 2025
