Interfax says Lavrov and Rubio talked for 52 minutes, Vedomosti 'almost an hour' — no report says what they agreed
The Russian and US foreign ministers met in New York on 23 September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. We hold five reports on the meeting. Three give its length, in three different ways. None says what was said.
What is settled. Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, and Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, met in New York on 23 September. Interfax, Regnum, Ukrainska Pravda and Anadolu Agency all carry the meeting on that date.
How long. Three Russian outlets give three measures.
| Outlet | Length | What else it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Interfax | "52 minutes" | nothing more in the lines we hold |
| Vedomosti | "almost an hour" | headline only |
| Regnum | "about an hour" | no opening remarks for the press; closed format |
| Ukrainska Pravda | — | "details of the meeting are not disclosed" |
| Anadolu Agency | — | talks "expected to address relations, Ukraine war" |
The three lengths fit each other. Only Interfax gives an exact figure, and it names no source for it.
Whose record. Ukrainska Pravda says the photographs came from the Russian foreign ministry's spokeswoman. None of the five reports cites a US account of the talks. Anadolu gives the agenda as an expectation and does not say whose.
What is not settled. - What was discussed, and whether anything was agreed. No report we hold says. - Whether Ukraine came up. Anadolu expected it; no report confirms it. - Who is withholding the details. Ukrainska Pravda does not say. - For three of the five reports we hold only the opening lines. For Vedomosti we hold only the headline.
What this is about. The top diplomats of Russia and the United States met in private in New York, and almost nothing about the meeting has been made public.
How it got here. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backed armed separatists in Ukraine's east. On 24 February 2022 it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The United States and its European allies responded with sanctions on Russia and with weapons and money for Ukraine. For three years there was little high-level contact between Washington and Moscow.
That changed after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. His administration said it wanted to end the war through negotiation. Rubio and Lavrov met in Riyadh in February 2025, and Trump met Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August 2025. No settlement of the war has followed.
The actors. - Sergei Lavrov has been Russia's foreign minister since 2004. - Marco Rubio has been US secretary of state since January 2025. - Ukraine is the country being fought over. No report we hold says it took part in this meeting. - The UN General Assembly is the body where every UN member state has a seat. Its yearly session opens in New York each September, and ministers use the days around it for private meetings like this one.
What is at stake. Any understanding between the US and Russia on the war would bear directly on Ukraine and on the European governments backing Kyiv. With no public account of the meeting, all of them are left to guess, and so are readers.
Where it stands. The meeting took place and ended on 23 September. In the reports we hold, the only public record is its length and photographs released by the Russian side.
The story so far
Earlier stories The AI Times filed on this thread.
What is being argued about
- How long the meeting lasted: 52 minutes, almost an hour, or about an hour
- Who released the only record of it: the Russian foreign ministry's spokeswoman
- Whether the war in Ukraine was on the table: expected, not confirmed
- Why no report carries a US account of the talks
Claims and verdicts
No claims registered.
Who wrote it
Anadolu Agency
Coverage, outlet by outlet
Встреча Лаврова и Рубио на полях ГА ООН продлилась почти час
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at Vedomosti →
What we have measured
Actor named names Russia as the state actor, not the company, and frames it neutrally ×1Asserted vs attributed the headline attributes the attacks to Novak ×1Asserted vs attributed Attributes the attack count to Novak in the headline. ×1Attribution figure stated flat with no source named, and tied to 2027 ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
Anadolu Agency
Anadolu Agency
🇹🇷TR ·
state agency · state-controlled
Переговоры Лаврова и Рубио на полях Генассамблеи ООН продлились около часа
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at Regnum →
What we have measured
Actor label Calls Ukraine's president the head of a regime in the report's own voice. ×1Actor named names Ukraine's forces as the attacker of the town ×1Actor named Ukraine's armed forces are named outright as the side attacking the town ×1Actor named Names the organiser and says he is under arrest ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
Встреча Лаврова и Рубио на "полях" Генассамблеи ООН продлилась 52 минуты
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at Interfax →
What we have measured
A checkable claim passed on unchecked relays the president's statistic about world cities in quotation marks with no check and no counter-voice ×1A denial carried as characterisation press reports are labelled planted, and the label is passed on in the report's own voice ×1Anonymous source The meetings are sourced to unnamed people familiar with the situation. ×1Anyone hurt named or counted injuries described in clinical detail; the man is never named ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
Рубіо зустрівся з Лавровим під час Генасамблеї ООН у Нью-Йорку
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at Ukrainska Pravda →
What we have measured
Actor named shortages are described with no one named as causing them ×1Actor named The cancellation is pinned on a named Hungarian official's refusal. ×1Actor named The town is called 'occupied', but the lede does not name who occupies it or who blocks aid. ×1Actor named Names the EU and partners as the ones paying ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
— independent
International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
INT ·
official record · intergovernmental body
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
INT ·
official record · intergovernmental body
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
UN News
UN News
INT ·
official record · intergovernmental body
What we have measured
Actors named Names both vetoing states and the sponsor, and says what the draft would have created ×1Asserted versus attributed share of women and children among the dead given with no source ×1Asserted vs attributed Israel named as acting, stated in the report's own voice ×1Asymmetric verb The Iranian government's crimes are 'confirmed'. The US finding is only 'reasonable grounds'. The two findings are weighted differently in one sentence. ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →