MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. Russia and the United States have not interrupted their dialogue on normalizing bilateral ties, and hopefully the two countries will attain certain results on this issue, Russian Ambassador to Washington Alexander Darchiev said.
"[Consultations] have not been interrupted, they are ongoing. We hope to reach certain results in accordance with instructions from the two presidents," the Russian diplomat told Channel One in response to a relevant question.
Last month, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow and Washington will soon agree the timeframe for a third round of consultations on `irritants’ in bilateral relations. He then said that "it’s not about a slowdown in our work on the bilateral agenda with the United States, but about a technical break."
On February 27 and April 10, two rounds of negotiations took place in Istanbul, focusing on restoring the functionality of the Russian and US embassies and addressing various bilateral concerns. During these consultations, Darchiev led the Russian delegation, and Sonata Coulter, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, headed the US team. While the first meeting without the press lasted more than six hours, the second one was five-and-a-half-hour long.