The U.S. is prepared to staff its Moscow embassy with more diplomats to facilitate visa issuance.
A second round of U.S.-Russia consultations on normalizing embassy operations will be held in Istanbul on Thursday.
The Russian delegation will be led by Ambassador to Washington Alexander Darchiev, and the U.S. delegation by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Russia and Central Europe Sonata Coulter.
The first meeting took place on February 27 and lasted over six hours.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said officials from both foreign ministries will participate.
“The parties will continue ongoing efforts to remove the numerous obstacles, including technical ones, that are hindering diplomats,” she said.
The agenda includes addressing the “toxic legacy” of the previous U.S. administration’s restrictions on Russian diplomatic missions, according to Ambassador Darchiev.
Other topics include diplomatic property, visa restrictions, and financial limitations.
Russia will also raise the issue of resuming direct flights between the two countries.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce stated that delegations will “seek to make further progress on stabilizing the operations of our respective bilateral missions.”
