MANILA /Philippines/, July 23. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have begun talks in the Philippine capital, a TASS correspondent reported.

The meeting between Lavrov and Rubio began at 11:54 a.m. local time (06:54 a.m. Moscow time, or 3:54 a.m. GMT). It is taking place on the sidelines of ASEAN-related events in Manila at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Announcing the upcoming talks on the previous day, Lavrov stated that he planned to ask his American counterpart about the White House’s views on prospects for resolving the conflict in Ukraine. For his part, Rubio confirmed that he also intended to discuss the Ukraine issue with the Russian Foreign Minister.