US, Russia hold fresh talks in Istanbul on restoring diplomatic missions

ISTANBUL -- US and Russian delegations met in Istanbul on Thursday for a second round of talks aimed at restoring normal operations of diplomatic missions in each other's country.

The discussions are taking place at the Russian consulate in the Turkish city. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the talks are being led by Russia's newly appointed ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter.

The primary focus of the discussions is to address issues affecting the functioning of the embassies and consulates in each other's country. The US State Department has emphasized that the talks are limited strictly to diplomatic operations.

"Ukraine is not, absolutely not on the agenda," US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday. "These talks are solely focused on our embassy operations, not on normalizing a bilateral relationship overall, which can only happen, as we've noted, once there is peace between Russia and Ukraine."

The first round of talks was held in Istanbul on Feb 27.

In recent years, Washington and Moscow have expelled numerous diplomats from each other's country, significantly hindering the ability of their diplomatic missions to function effectively.