Russia will raise the issue of resuming direct flights with the US and the return of diplomatic property at Russian-American talks on Thursday in Istanbul, Russian Ambassador to the US Alexander Darchiev said, quoted by TASS.
Direct flights between the US and Russia, along with those to many other countries, were suspended after the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian state news agency TASS quoted Darchiev as saying that Russia would raise the issue of resuming flights. This move, he said, "will stimulate business and make life easier for ordinary people on both sides of the ocean."
Darchiev added that Russia is ready for a "serious conversation" with a demand for the return of Russian diplomatic property confiscated by US authorities.
Two Russian diplomatic compounds, one in Maryland and the other in Long Island, were confiscated by US authorities in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russians accused of hacking and interfering in the US presidential election that year.
Russia has long demanded the compounds be returned and has seized US diplomatic property near Moscow in retaliation.