Moscow, Washington schedule talks on diplomatic missions

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. State Department has announced that American and Russian delegations are scheduled to convene in Istanbul on April 10 to focus exclusively on stabilizing the operations of their respective embassies.

During a daily press briefing, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce emphasized that these discussions will not cover political or security matters.

"Ukraine is not, absolutely not on the agenda," Bruce stated, according to Reuters.

She further clarified, "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."

A diplomatic source indicated that the meeting will be held at the Russian consulate in Istanbul.

In February, delegations from both nations met in Istanbul to address the restoration of normal embassy functions. These discussions were narrowly centered on the conditions for each other's diplomats and served as an initial test of their capacity to reset broader relations.

Over the past decade, Russia and the United States have engaged in reciprocal expulsions of diplomats and have imposed limitations on the appointment of new staff at each other's missions, resulting in significantly reduced embassy personnel.

Earlier, the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported that delegations from Russia and the U.S. would meet for consultations in Istanbul in the coming days, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry.