It is a sign that does not deceive in the current warming of relations between Russia and the United States. The Kremlin proposed this Friday, this Friday, in Washington to restore air links between their two countries which had been stopped due to the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Moscow claims to have also discussed the resolution of “many inconveniences” in their relationships.
“The two parties discussed the means of overcoming the many” inconveniences “inherited from the previous American administrations,” said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a meeting in Istanbul in Türkiye. “Concretely, the American part was invited to consider the possibility of restoring direct air links,” he added.
This meeting initiated by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, focused on the facilitation of the work of their respective embassies, a step in the restoration of relations between Moscow and Washington.
According to the Russian ministry, “discussions took place substantially and professional” and “it was agreed to continue dialogue by this path”. Regarding the work of embassies, “joint measures have been agreed to ensure the unhindered funding of diplomatic missions activities,” he said.
The two parties also spoke of the return of “six real estate illegally seized between 2016 and 2018” in the United States, belonging to Russia, still according to Moscow.
A overhaul of bilateral relations
This closed-door meeting of Russian and American diplomats was the second meeting between representatives of the United States and Russia, after a first on February 18 in Saudi Arabia who had herself following the interview on the phone between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American Donald Trump.
Russians and Americans said they wanted to overcome their bilateral relations, making kyiv and its European allies fears to be put aside in the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. After their interviews in Saudi Arabia, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and his American counterpart Marco Rubio had wanted to restore the normal functioning of embassies and consulates, after multiple evictions of representatives in the respective diplomatic missions of the United States and Russia for many years.
Since the start of the invasion in Ukraine, the United States, such as EU countries and Canada, have banned their airspace in Russian planes. Russia had retaliated by prohibiting, “except special permits”, its airspace in these countries.