Moscow Offers to Resume Direct Flights Between Russia And US During Istanbul Talks- wna24
Moscow: Amid the recent talks between US President Trump and Putin on ending war on Ukraine, now Russia has proposed to resume direct flights, “restoring direct air traffic” between the two countries, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
Russian and US diplomats met in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss normalizing the operation of their respective embassies that has been impaired by multiple round of diplomats’ expulsions during previous years.
Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement said, “joint steps were agreed upon to ensure unimpeded financing of the activities of diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States on a reciprocal basis and to create appropriate conditions for diplomats to perform their official duties.”
The Foreign ministry said that it also offered the U.S. “to consider the possibility of restoring direct air traffic.” It didn’t add any details or possible time frame, and there was no immediate comment from Washington on the issue.
The Ministry hailed the talks as “substantive and businesslike”
The US and other Western nations severed air links with Russia as part of a series of sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The US-Russia talks in Istanbul followed an understanding reached during U.S. President Donald Trump ’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin , and negotiations between senior Russian and US diplomats and other officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
In Riyadh, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the fighting in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties.
The talk includes restoring staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats, closures of offices and other restrictions.
The US State Department said that during Thursday’s talks in Istanbul, the U.S. delegation “raised concerns regarding access to banking and contracted services as well as the need to ensure stable and sustainable staffing levels at the US Embassy in Moscow.”
In a statement, the US State Department said, “Through constructive discussions, both sides identified concrete initial steps to stabilize bilateral mission operations in these areas,”