MOSCOW: Moscow and Washington are engaged in direct contact regarding the elimination of the so-called "irritants" in bilateral re...
MOSCOW: Moscow and Washington are engaged in direct contact regarding the elimination of the so-called "irritants" in bilateral relations, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"Russia and the United States maintain direct contact to eliminate irritants in bilateral relations," he said at a news briefing.
Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiev said in an interview with TASS earlier this week that Moscow and Washington reached a preliminary agreement to move consultations on removing "irritants" in bilateral diplomatic relations from Turkey’s Istanbul, so the next round of talks would take place "in Moscow in the near future."
Talks on ways to normalize the operation of the Russian and US embassies and resolve "irritants" in relations between the two countries were held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on February 27 and April 10.
Darchiev headed the Russian delegation to both rounds of consultations, while the US delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Sonata Coulter. After the first round of talks, the US gave its formal approval to Darchiev’s appointment as Russian ambassador to Washington.
At the second round of consultations, the parties exchanged notes on guarantees of unimpeded access to banking services for the diplomatic missions and agreed to take further measures to ease travel restrictions and visa issuance for diplomats. According to Darchiev, Russia had emphasized the priority of a swift return of its diplomatic property seized in the United States.
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