Russian Foreign Minister: Russia and the United States have agreed to establish a bilateral economic working group to discuss economic and trade issues separately.

The Russian Foreign Ministry released a transcript of an interview with Foreign Minister Lavrov on the 18th local time. In the interview, Lavrov stated that Russia and the United States have agreed to establish a bilateral economic working group to discuss economic and trade issues separately from the Geneva military-political talks. The Russian side hopes to understand the specific definition of "mutually beneficial cooperation" by the Trump administration. Previously, weeks after the meeting in Anchorage, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Russian oil companies, and requested India to stop purchasing Russian oil, resume work in the Venezuelan oil industry but exclude Russia and other countries. Lavrov said, "If Americans sincerely say that they will begin mutually beneficial cooperation after resolving the Ukraine issue, then currently they are trying to exclude us from the world energy market."