Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold their first face-to-face meeting since September on July 23 in Manila, where ASEAN foreign ministers are gathering for a regional forum. The talks are expected to focus on Russia’s war against Ukraine and the so-called Anchorage agreements, which Moscow claims were reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Lavrov said Russia believes Washington has not abandoned its own proposals discussed during the talks. “We proceed from the fact that, at least for now, our American colleagues have not rejected their own proposals that were made and are now well known to everyone,” Lavrov said, according to Russian state media RIA-Novosti. He added that he plans to ask Rubio about Trump’s recent claims that a settlement in Ukraine is closer than before. Rubio confirmed the meeting, saying the United States and Russia, as the world’s largest nuclear powers, cannot stop communicating. “The war in Ukraine has in many ways impeded the ability of Russia and the United States to find areas of agreement on other topics. That doesn’t mean we won’t seek to find other areas of potential cooperation,” Rubio said on Wednesday during a press briefing in the US State Department. Moscow Drops Idea of Territorial Swap Ahead of the talks, the Kremlin appears to be taking a tougher stance on Ukraine.