Lavrov weighs US diplomacy Dialogue amid oil sanctions

Oct 22, 2025

Asked about prospects for deeper cooperation with the Trump administration, Lavrov contrasts regular diplomatic contacts with policies he says seek to push Russia out of the world economy. He recalls his first meeting with Marco Rubio in Riyadh in February 2025, describing an understanding to pursue national interests, cooperate where they coincide and avoid confrontation where they do not. He describes subsequent contacts involving Witkoff and Kushner, repeats his claim that Russia accepted Trump's Anchorage principles and blames Ukraine and European leaders for obstructing them. He remains willing to talk but criticizes continuing Biden-era sanctions and new sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft. He places the latter roughly a month after Anchorage; that is his recollected chronology, not an independently verified sanctions date. He also criticizes U.S. ambitions over energy resources, briefly referring to Venezuela and Hormuz, and argues that Washington must recognize other major powers' interests. He reports neither a new bilateral agreement nor a lifting of sanctions.

Lavrov criticizes U.S. sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft as inconsistent with the dialogue described after Anchorage. He says Biden-era measures remained and places the additional sanctions roughly a month after the summit. The identified decision occurred October 22, 2025; his approximate recollection remains in the source account.