diff --git a/docs/markdown/Release-notes-for-0.41.0.md b/docs/markdown/Release-notes-for-0.41.0.md
index c93fee847..a96ded0c3 100644
--- a/docs/markdown/Release-notes-for-0.41.0.md
+++ b/docs/markdown/Release-notes-for-0.41.0.md
@@ -53,3 +53,6 @@ other build systems. Currently this only works for projects using Git
 and only with the Ninja backend.
 
 
+## Support for passing arguments to Rust compiler
+
+Targets for building rust now take a `rust_args` keyword.
diff --git a/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py b/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
index cad509693..4885f4bbe 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
@@ -1150,6 +1150,7 @@ int dummy;
         args += rustc.get_buildtype_args(self.get_option_for_target('buildtype', target))
         depfile = os.path.join(target.subdir, target.name + '.d')
         args += ['--emit', 'dep-info={}'.format(depfile), '--emit', 'link']
+        args += target.get_extra_args('rust')
         args += ['-o', os.path.join(target.subdir, target.get_filename())]
         orderdeps = [os.path.join(t.subdir, t.get_filename()) for t in target.link_targets]
         linkdirs = OrderedDict()
diff --git a/mesonbuild/build.py b/mesonbuild/build.py
index c2d4583cf..ce6405b2f 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/build.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/build.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ known_basic_kwargs = {'install': True,
                       'fortran_args': True,
                       'd_args': True,
                       'java_args': True,
+                      'rust_args': True,
                       'link_args': True,
                       'link_depends': True,
                       'link_with': True,
@@ -632,6 +633,10 @@ class BuildTarget(Target):
         if not isinstance(fortranlist, list):
             fortranlist = [fortranlist]
         self.add_compiler_args('fortran', fortranlist)
+        rustlist = kwargs.get('rust_args', [])
+        if not isinstance(rustlist, list):
+            rustlist = [rustlist]
+        self.add_compiler_args('rust', rustlist)
         if not isinstance(self, Executable):
             self.vala_header = kwargs.get('vala_header', self.name + '.h')
             self.vala_vapi = kwargs.get('vala_vapi', self.name + '.vapi')
diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers.py b/mesonbuild/compilers.py
index c30e8fb8d..199bbab0a 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers.py
@@ -146,10 +146,10 @@ java_buildtype_args = {'plain': [],
                        }
 
 rust_buildtype_args = {'plain': [],
-                       'debug': ['-g'],
-                       'debugoptimized': ['-g', '--opt-level', '2'],
-                       'release': ['--opt-level', '3'],
-                       'minsize': [],
+                       'debug': ['-C', 'debuginfo=2'],
+                       'debugoptimized': ['-C', 'debuginfo=2', '-C', 'opt-level=2'],
+                       'release': ['-C', 'opt-level=3'],
+                       'minsize': [], # In a future release: ['-C', 'opt-level=s'],
                        }
 
 d_gdc_buildtype_args = {'plain': [],
diff --git a/test cases/rust/1 basic/meson.build b/test cases/rust/1 basic/meson.build
index 076d86b60..3919279a9 100644
--- a/test cases/rust/1 basic/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/rust/1 basic/meson.build	
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 project('rustprog', 'rust')
 
-e = executable('program', 'prog.rs', install : true)
+e = executable('program', 'prog.rs',
+  rust_args : ['-C', 'lto'], # Just a test
+  install : true
+)
 test('rusttest', e)
 
 subdir('subdir')