Russia has offered the United States the possibility of resuming direct flights between the two countries, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry. The offer was made during a recent round of consultations in Washington.
Russian and US diplomats met in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss the normalization of their respective embassies’ operations, which had been hindered in recent years by the mutual expulsion of diplomats. The Russian Foreign Ministry described the talks as “substantive and businesslike” and stated that “common steps were agreed upon to ensure the unimpeded financing of the activities of the diplomatic representations of Russia and the United States on the basis of reciprocity and to create appropriate conditions for diplomats to perform their official duties.”
The ministry also announced that Russia had proposed to the US the possibility of reviewing the resumption of direct air traffic. Moscow did not provide further details or a possible timeframe and there was no immediate comment from Washington.
The US and other Western countries suspended flights with Russia as part of a series of sanctions imposed on Moscow, following the deployment of Russian troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
The talks between the US and Russia in Istanbul followed an agreement reached during a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as negotiations between high-ranking Russian and US diplomats and officials in Saudi Arabia earlier in the month.
The parties agreed in Riyadh to work towards the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and to improve their diplomatic and economic relations, including the re-staffing of embassies, which had been severely affected in recent years by the mutual expulsion of a large number of diplomats, the closure of offices and other restrictions.