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New US ambassador to arrive in Moscow by late January — Department of State

Tracy was now consulting with officials in Washington

WASHINGTON, January 25. /TASS/. The new US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, will arrive in Moscow by the end of this month, US Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday.

"I can confirm that ambassador Tracy did meet with Russian ambassador [to the United States Anatoly] Antonov. This was an opportunity for her to have discussions with her counterpart here in Washington DC. We expect ambassador Tracy will be departing for the Russian Federation, where she will present her credentials, in the coming days. We expect her to be in place later this month," the spokesperson said.

In his words, Tracy was now consulting with officials in Washington.

"I am not going to speak what ambassador Tracy discussed with ambassador Antonov. But I can be pretty clear about what she didn’t discuss - didn’t discuss any form of negotiated settlement over <…> Ukraine," Price continued. "It’s not for us to do, it’s not for us to do in Washington, it’s for our Ukrainian partners to do with as appropriate our support. We stand ready to support them if and when the time comes for meaningful dialogue and diplomacy."

"Setting that issue aside, because this is not an issue for us to discuss with Russia, we have been clear about our desire to maintain open channels of communication with Russia," he added.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov and the new US envoy to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, held a meeting in Washington on Monday, the Russian embassy reported. Earlier on Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters that talks focusing on problematic aspects within Russian-US relations would continue with Tracy. According to Ryabkov, so far it has not been possible to find common ground on problematic issues in the relations between Moscow and Washington.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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Russian border guards are in direct contact with foreign partners, Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

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