Both diplomats stated that they are willing to cooperate not only in the improvement of the bilateral relations, but also in several issues of the international agenda. However, they made clear that there are difficult distances to overcome.

Lavrov admitted that Moscow and Washington have serious disagreements in their assessment about the international situation and in the approaches to solving problems for its normalization.

The Russian foreign minister said that both sides should cooperate ‘in the spheres where our interests coincide and we can get a positive result,’ Sputnik news agency stated.

The head of Russian diplomacy spoke with his US counterpart about their countries’ positions on the Iranian nuclear program and the US return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the problems on the Korean Peninsula and the situation in Afghanistan, among other issues.

Lavrov is in Iceland to participate in the Arctic Council meeting, in which Russia will hold the rotating presidency of the group, which is also made up of Canada, Denmark, the United States, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

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