U.S. and Russian diplomats met Thursday in Istanbul for talks about the operations of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington. The meeting is the latest in a series of engagements between the two sides, including a phone call earlier this month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Working to restore U.S.-Russia relations was on the agenda last week for talks between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The U.S. State Department said after those talks in Riyadh that the two sides had agreed to create “a consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions.” Diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States declined during the past decade, with both sides expelling diplomats. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
