Russia and the United States postpone another meeting to normalize diplomatic relations

Russia and the USA failed to reach an agreement on the venue for the next round of negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to the Russian President's Assistant Yuri Ushakov, Russia proposed Moscow as the venue for the meeting, but the USA did not accept this proposal.

In an interview with Kremlin reporter Pavel Zarubin, Ushakov stated: "It was agreed, as I have already mentioned, to meet in one place, but they did not like this place for certain reasons. And now they will propose another option." When asked if this is just a matter of geographic location, Ushakov replied that "perhaps something else", but "primarily a matter of geography".

Ushakov confirmed that the upcoming negotiations are aimed at "normalizing relations around the embassies, first and foremost". According to him, the new Russian ambassador to the USA, Alexander Darchiev, "is already maintaining, one might say, not entirely normal, but close to normal level of contacts with the State Department and other structures".

A week earlier, Darchiev himself stated that the next round of negotiations between the delegations "will take place in Moscow in the near future". Despite the postponement of the meeting, Darchiev pointed out that "there is progress, albeit fully reversible, nevertheless, there is a tangible result, such as the preliminary decision taken during the last round of consultations on April 10 this year in Istanbul, to move to the capitals".

The Reuters agency called the cancellation of the Moscow round of consultations "an obvious retreat from the process initiated by Presidents Putin and Trump to improve bilateral relations".