US, Russia discuss stabilizing embassy operations in Istanbul talks

ISTANBUL

Russian and U.S. diplomats met in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss normalizing the operation of their respective embassies after years expelling each others' diplomats.

"The United States raised concerns regarding access to banking and contracted services as well as the need to ensure stable and sustainable staffing levels at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow," U.S. State Department said in a statement.

"Through constructive discussions, both sides identified concrete initial steps to stabilize bilateral mission operations in these areas," it added.

Russia also said on Friday it had suggested to the U.S. resuming direct flights between the two countries during talks in Istanbul.

"It was suggested to the American side to examine the possibility of resuming direct air links," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian Foreign Ministry also said that Moscow and Washington have agreed on steps to remove obstacles to financing their embassies.

"In accordance with the instructions of the foreign ministers, ways to overcome the numerous 'irritants' inherited from previous US administrations were discussed in detail," the ministry said.

The two sides agreed on joint steps to ensure the unhindered financing of their diplomatic missions on a reciprocal basis and to create suitable conditions for diplomats to carry out their official duties, it added.

The ministry also said that Russia raised the issue of its diplomatic property in the US, specifically six real estate properties that were "illegally seized" between 2016 and 2018.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks followed an understanding reached during President Donald Trump's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and contact between senior Russian and U.S. diplomats and other officials in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking during Thursday’s meeting of the Federal Security Service, Putin hailed the Trump administration's "pragmatism and realistic view” compared with what he described as the “stereotypes and messianic ideological cliches” of its predecessors.

“The first contacts with the new U.S. administration encourage certain hopes,” Putin said. “There is a mutual readiness to work to restore relations and gradually solve a colossal amount of systemic strategic problems in the global architecture.”

Putin said that “part of Western elites are still determined to maintain global instability” and could try to “disrupt or compromise the dialogue that has begun," adding that Russian diplomats and security agencies should focus their efforts on thwarting such attempts.

In Riyadh, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That includes restoring staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats, closures of offices, and other restrictions.

A U.S. Embassy official in Ankara confirmed that the Istanbul talks focused on the issues affecting the operation of respective diplomatic missions.

Later Thursday, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department said: “The United States raised concerns regarding access to banking and contracted services as well as the need to ensure stable and sustainable staffing levels at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Through constructive discussions, both sides identified concrete initial steps to stabilize bilateral mission operations in these areas.”

Moscow had no immediate comments after the negotiations, which Russian news agencies said lasted for over six hours.

Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, said during a visit to Türkiye on Thursday that U.S.-Russia talks should help restore the “full-fledged work of our diplomatic missions.”

“I'm sure that the agreements will be reached and we will return to civilized communication, which was disrupted by the previous administration,” she said in Ankara, according to Russian news agencies.

For the talks in Istanbul, the U.S. delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Russia and Central Europe Sonata Coulter, while the Russian side was headed by Ambassador Alexander Darchiev, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North American Department.

Coulter and Darchiev agreed to hold a follow-up meeting in the near future, with details on the date, location and representation yet to be determined, according to the State Department.

‘Restoring relations and dialogue’

Ties between Moscow and Washington plummeted to their lowest levels since the Cold War after Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and invaded Ukraine in 2022.

No Ukrainian officials were present at last week’s talks. The Kremlin insisted that the meeting was about restoring relations and dialogue with the United States, something it said would pave the way for eventual peace talks.

Speaking during a visit to Qatar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the talks in Istanbul would seek to resolve "systemic problems that have accumulated as a result of the unlawful activities of the previous (U.S.) administration to create artificial obstacles for the work of the Russian embassy, ​​to which we, naturally, reciprocated and also created uncomfortable conditions for the work of the American embassy in Moscow.”

Lavrov added that based on the outcome of the meeting, “it will be clear how quickly and effectively we can move forward.”