FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE – Delegations from the United States and Russia met Thursday at the Russian consulate in Istanbul for the second round of talks aimed at resolving issues affecting the operation of their embassies and consulates.
The discussions were led by Russia’s newly appointed ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Both sides are focusing strictly on diplomatic operations, according to officials.
“Ukraine is not, absolutely not on the agenda,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday.
“These talks are solely focused on our embassy operations, not on normalizing a bilateral relationship overall, which can only happen, as we’ve noted, once there is peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
Diplomatic relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained in recent years, with numerous expulsions of diplomats significantly hampering embassy functions. The first round of talks on restoring diplomatic operations was held in Istanbul on Feb. 27.