Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Discussions between the US and Russia on resolving their bilateral issues will shift to Moscow from Istanbul, Russia’s new ambassador to the US told the state TASS news agency.
Ukraine’s war has sparked the largest showdown between Moscow and Washington since the height of the Cold War. Top diplomats in both Moscow and Washington said they couldn’t remember relations being as bad as they are now.
On February 27 and April 10, consultations were held in Istanbul to discuss issues in bilateral ties and normalise the functioning of the US and Russian embassies. Sonata Coulter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, led the US mission, while Darchiev led the Russian delegation.
Russia’s envoy to Washington has announced that a fresh round of discussions between the two nations will be held in Moscow.
Can new negotiations ease the diplomatic “irritants” today?
According to Alexander Darchiev, speaking in an interview with Russia’s state news agency TASS, the decision was “preliminary”, and the central issue remains the same — easing “irritants” in bilateral diplomatic ties. Regarding the time, he stated the occasion will take place “in the nearest future.”
Are deep state and Congressional hawks blocking progress?
“I’ve already mentioned that the recovery of Russian-American relations is still distant, and the process is hampered not only by opponents of the White House, embodied by the ‘deep state,’
but also by ‘hawks’ in Congress, where a persistent anti-Russian lobby exists,”
He said.
“Importantly, however, there is still forward momentum, albeit entirely reversible, reflected in a tangible outcome such as the preliminary decision made during the last round of consultations on April 10 in Istanbul to relocate them to the capitals,”
Darchiev further said.
“I can confirm that the next round of negotiations between delegations will take place in the very near future in Moscow.”
What diplomatic steps followed the April Istanbul meetings?
After the initial wave of U.S.-Russia diplomatic negotiations, Washington confirmed Alexander Darchiev’s nomination as Russia’s ambassador to the United States. After the second wave of negotiations, both sides exchanged diplomatic notes expressing assurances for stable banking services for their respective embassies and agreed to next steps that would further simplify diplomatic visa processing and travel for the diplomats.
These diplomatic notes set in motion the continuous expectation of easing limitations on bilateral diplomatic relations and enabling embassies to function normally, a result of the years of expulsions and limitations on their operational power.
