Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that on Thursday, the first of Mordad, he will meet with Marco Rubio, the U.S. foreign secretary. The two sides are currently in Manila and attending the “ASEAN” foreign ministers’ meeting, and the meeting is expected to take place on the sidelines of the summit.

Lavrov told reporters that “this meeting will, in any case, be useful. It’s good that questions are raised and answers are also received.”

By publishing the above report, Russian news agencies, citing the U.S. foreign minister, claimed that the main focus of the talks between the two sides would be the war in Ukraine. At the same time, some international media, including The Times of Israel, have said that one of the topics of discussion would also be military tensions in the Middle East.