UNITED NATIONS, February 27. /TASS/. The UN welcomes any dialogue between the US and Russia to resolve outstanding issues, UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in comments on the Russian-US talks in Istanbul.

"Any dialogue between the United States and Russia to settle outstanding issues is to be welcomed," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, Russia and the US held talks in Istanbul to discuss problems in the work of their embassies, in a meeting that lasted 6 1/2 hours. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said information about the outcome of the talks will be provided "one way or another." The discussions were preceded by two technical meetings between Moscow and Washington on the same subject.

In recent weeks, communication between Russia and the US has intensified. On February 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump spoke by phone. The conversation, which lasted nearly 1 1/2 hours, took place 23 days into Trump’s presidency. The presidents discussed a wide range of issues, including the Ukrainian conflict, bilateral relations and exchange of citizens. Then, on February 18, high-level Russian and US delegations met in Riyadh. After the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the sides had reached an agreement to swiftly appoint a Russian ambassador to the US and a US ambassador to Russia, as well as remove long-standing obstacles to the work of Russian diplomatic missions.