US, Russia conclude 2nd round of talks in Istanbul to restore diplomatic missions

ISTANBUL -- The United States and Russia on Thursday finished their second round of talks on restoring diplomatic missions in Türkiye's largest city Istanbul.

The US delegation left the Russian consulate in Istanbul in the afternoon, following approximately five hours of meetings with the Russian side.

There was no press briefing after the talks, but a statement from the Russian side was prepared, according to a diplomatic source who required anonymity.

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.