On February 27, the US and Russian delegations held a constructive discussion in Istanbul and outlined the first steps towards stabilizing the work of diplomatic missions.
This is stated in a statement released by the US State Department press service.
According to it, the US representatives "expressed concern" regarding access to banking operations and services provided under the contract, and also stated "the need for stable and sustainable personnel support for the US Embassy in Moscow". “Through constructive discussions, the two sides identified concrete initial steps towards bilateral stabilization of the work of the missions in these areas“, the statement said. It was emphasized that the parties agreed to hold “an additional meeting dedicated to these issues“ soon;
The US State Department noted that Thursday's meeting was a continuation of contacts between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The US delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Sonata Coulter, who heads the Russian delegation. The Russian delegation was led by Director of the North Atlantic Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Darchiev.
Contacts between Russia and the US have intensified in recent weeks. On February 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump spoke by phone. The nearly 90-minute conversation took place 23 days after Trump took office. The presidents discussed a wide range of topics, including the Ukrainian conflict, bilateral relations, and citizen exchanges. High-ranking delegations from Russia and the United States met in Riyadh on February 18. After the meeting, Lavrov announced that the parties had reached an agreement on the appointment of Russian ambassadors to the United States and the United States to Russia as soon as possible, as well as on the removal of long-standing obstacles to the work of Russian diplomatic missions.
In late November 2024, Russian media reported that Darchiev could become Russia's new ambassador to Washington, replacing Anatoly Antonov, who returned to Moscow and was dismissed from his post as ambassador to the United States by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin. There has been no official confirmation of this information yet. The Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS that they had long settled on a candidate for head of the diplomatic mission, but did not comment publicly on the information. The appointment of an ambassador in the near future was announced by the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov.