Lavrov Says Russia, US to Hold Talks in Turkey on Thursday (1)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that delegations from Russia and the US will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss restoring the functioning of their embassies.

“I think it will be clear from the outcome how quickly and effectively we can move forward” on the issue, Lavrov said of the meeting in televised comments during a visit to Doha on Wednesday. The US and Russia have reduced diplomatic staffing to skeleton crews over the years in tit-for-tat rounds of expulsions over espionage, hacking accusations and eventually Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Lavrov

Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg

The two countries decided to restore staffing ...