A statement issued by the State Department indicated that, during his call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Rubio praised the "1,000 for 1,000" prisoner exchange that took place earlier this week between Russia and Ukraine.
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Lavrov spoke to Rubio about preparing "concrete proposals" for a new round of direct talks with Kyiv.
She stated that Lavrov spoke to Rubio about implementing the agreements reached between the Russian and US presidents during their phone call a week ago, "and the Russian side's preparation of concrete proposals for the next round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul."
Lavrov said earlier that Russia proposes holding the next round of direct talks in Istanbul on June 2nd with the aim of achieving a sustainable peace settlement.
A statement later posted on Telegram by the Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, and they exchanged views on efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
On May 15 and 16, Istanbul hosted peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which concluded with an agreement to exchange 2,000 prisoners between the two countries.
Since February 24, 2022, Russia has launched a military attack on its neighbor, Ukraine, and has made ending the offensive conditional on Kyiv abandoning its membership in Western military entities. Kyiv considers this "interference" in its affairs.
