U.S., Russia to hold talks in Istanbul focused on embassy operations

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce made this statement during a briefing.

She noted that during the talks, the U.S. and Russian delegations would aim to “make progress on further stabilizing the operations of our bilateral missions.”

Bruce also emphasized that no political or security issues, including Ukraine, are on the agenda for the talks in Istanbul.

“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 spokeswoman added.

• On Tuesday, March 25, a new round of talks took place in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, between the Ukrainian and American delegations.
• On March 26, reports revealed that Russia's conditions for an agreement on a ceasefire in the Black Sea included the lifting of European sanctions.