Lavrov-Rubio meeting postponed - report

The meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which had been in the works for the past few days, has been postponed indefinitely, CNN reported, citing its sources in the White House.

"It is unclear why the meeting will not take place this week," CNN reported.

According to the TV channel, Lavrov and Rubio disagree on how to peacefully settle the Ukrainian conflict.

In addition, CNN stated that the impact of postponing their meeting indefinitely on the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in Budapest is still unclear, but Rubio and Lavrov may speak by phone again this week.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov refuted claims that a meeting between Lavrov and Rubio had been suspended.

"I would like to point out that it’s impossible to put on hold what has not been agreed on," Ryabkov said.

According to him, the idea of a meeting was not discussed either prior or during yesterday’s phone call between Lavrov and Rubio in concrete terms. The senior Russian diplomat said there is such an idea, but it is too early to discuss any timeframes.

According to Ryabkov, any contact of such a scale should be properly prepared.