Lavrov says Rubio’s denial of agreement between Russia, US in Alaska ‘inelegant’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday described recent remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denying an agreement between Moscow and Washington on Ukraine during a summit in Alaska the previous year as "inelegant."

In a written ministry statement in response to a media question, Lavrov provided details of discussions that unfolded during Russian President Vladimir Putin's and US President Donald Trump's summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage in August last year.

Lavrov explained that several days before the summit, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow with proposals from Trump, and that Putin pledged to present his response to the proposal during the meeting in Alaska.

He said the proposals were subsequently discussed point by point during the summit, and that Putin asked Witkoff, in the presence of Trump and Rubio, after each point whether he had accurately captured the ideas presented in Moscow days earlier.

Lavrov further said that Witkoff responded affirmatively to each of these queries, going on to question Rubio's remarks about only proposals being made during the Alaska summit.

"If one party, in this case the United States, puts forward its proposals for a settlement-for an approach to resolving this crisis-and the other party expresses concurrence with these proposals, then to state that no agreement was reached appears, to put it mildly, somewhat inelegant," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister also called for "clarification" concerning the "entire situation" regarding the US role as a mediator in the ongoing war.

Lavrov's remarks came as Rubio, a day earlier, denied that any agreement was reached between Moscow and Washington.

"There was a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement in Alaska. If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end to the war," Rubio said.

In recent days, Russian officials have accused the US of drifting away from what they described as "understandings" reached in Alaska.

Earlier this week, Lavrov also argued that the US seemed to be moving away from its remarks about being an "objective mediator" regarding the Ukraine war and instead pursuing a course of "increasing sanctions pressure on Russia."

The US secretary of state has not yet commented on Lavrov's latest remarks.