Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced a press conference that a meeting between Russian and US diplomats will take place in Istanbul on February 27, focusing on the work of the embassies of both countries.
According to Lavrov, the diplomats and experts will discuss the problems that have accumulated due to the illegal activities of the previous US administration, which have created artificial obstacles for the work of the Russian embassy and the Russian authorities have responded by creating unpleasant conditions for the work of the US embassy in Moscow, as stated by the minister. He added, “Such a meeting will take place tomorrow in Istanbul. I think the results will clearly show how quickly and effectively we can act.”
Following talks between the Russian and US delegations in Riyadh on February 18, both sides agreed to restore the number of employees in the diplomatic missions in Moscow and Washington, US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio stated. Without the resumption of diplomatic relations, it will be difficult to discuss an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Rubio added.
Lavrov previously stated that the first and likely the most urgent and even less complicated, agreement would be to ensure the appointment of ambassadors as quickly as possible. The US diplomatic mission in Russia has been led by Lynne Tracy since 2023, who could be replaced by Richard Norland, the US special envoy to Libya. Russia’s ambassador to the United States was Anatoli Antonov until October 2024 and the Russian Foreign Ministry decided on the candidacy of the new head of the diplomatic mission – the Director of the North America Department, Alexander Dartschijew, who was not yet approved by Washington at the beginning of February.
Russia and the US have repeatedly expelled each other’s diplomats and this has occurred before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. In October 2023, the United States stood at the top of all Western countries with a total of 225 expelled Russian diplomats since 2000. At the end of 2016, the US authorities, under President Barack Obama, denied access to the land residences of Russian diplomats in New York and Maryland and later seized a range of further Russian properties.
Following the meeting in Riyadh, Russia approached the US with questions regarding the normalization of the work of the embassies, including the fate of Russian diplomatic property.