Russia, US meet over diplomatic missions

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON — Delegations of Russia and the United States on Thursday held a second round of bilateral talks in Turkiye on restoring embassy functioning as the two countries conducted a prisoner exchange facilitated by the United Arab Emirates.

US and Russian teams were meeting in Istanbul to discuss restoring embassy staffing levels after years of diplomat expulsions.

Both sides said on Thursday that they had made progress toward normalizing the work of their diplomatic missions.

The two sides also moved to formalize an agreement on banking access for their diplomats, despite the US sanctions on Russia, the State Department said.

The Russian consulate in Istanbul said on Thursday that progress has been made on ensuring banking and financial services for diplomatic missions during the second round of bilateral talks in Istanbul.

Delegations from the two countries "exchanged diplomatic notes to formalize agreed commitments. These commitments are designed to facilitate unimpeded banking and financial services for Russian and American diplomatic missions," the consulate said in a news release.

The two sides "agreed to develop a roadmap" regarding the return of six diplomatic real estate properties confiscated by US authorities and lawfully owned by Russia, the consulate said.

The timing of the next round of talks is "currently under coordination," it said.

However, the US State Department said after the meeting that Washington reiterated its concerns about Moscow's prohibition of its citizens working at US missions in Russia.

It said this was the key impediment to maintaining stable and sustainable staffing levels at the US embassy in Moscow.

5 hours of meetings

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

The US State Department had emphasized that the talks were limited strictly to diplomatic operations.

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 countries, significantly hindering the ability of their diplomatic missions to function effectively.

As the talks took place, the US and Russia conducted a prisoner swap.

"On April 10, at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, with UAE mediation, Russian citizen Artur Petrov was returned home," said the Russian Federal Security Service.

Detained by US authorities in Cyprus in 2023, Petrov was extradited to the United States in 2024 on charges of violating export control laws. He was facing up to 20 years in prison in the United States.

He was exchanged for US-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina, who was found guilty of treason and sentenced to 12 years.

Trump publicly thanked Russia for the release of Karelina.

"We appreciate that. We hope that we're going to be able to make a deal relatively soon with Russia and Ukraine to stop the fighting," Trump told reporters.

The second swap under US President Donald Trump came as Moscow and Washington pushed to rebuild ties.

In mid-February, following a call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, Russia released Kalob Wayne Byers, a 28-year-old US citizen arrested at a Moscow airport for transporting cannabis gummy sweets.

Washington and Moscow also exchanged US teacher Marc Fogel for Russian computer expert Alexander Vinnik in early February. The largest US-Russia prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War took place on Aug 1, 2024.

A day after the two countries exchanged prisoners, Russian President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev met Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday in St Petersburg, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

Witkoff arrived in Russia's second city earlier on Friday and may hold talks with Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Friday that he would announce any meeting that Putin held with Witkoff if the time for such an encounter arose in the Russian leader's schedule, according to Interfax.

Witkoff has held two previous meetings with Putin in Russia since Trump returned to the White House.

After their last meeting, Witkoff, a longtime Trump ally who worked with the US president in real estate, said Putin was a "great leader".