Russia Preparing For Consultations With United States On Bilateral Relations - Diplomat

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th January, 2023) Russia is preparing for a new round of consultations with the United States on bilateral relations and considers them useful, but there are no deadlines yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with Sputnik.

The Russia-US consultations regarding visa issues and operation of embassies were held in Istanbul last month. Commenting on their results, Ryabkov told Sputnik that the number of diplomatic missions' staff was not discussed. In general, the situation in this area is "quite confusing and has its own history," therefore, "dialogue on these subjects is important in principle," the diplomat said.

"As for the next round of Russian-US consultations, their date and place have not been determined to date. In general, we consider them useful for comparing positions. There is no other way to find common ground in order to somehow break the deadlock ... We are now engaged in routine preparatory work for the next meeting," Ryabkov said.

Moscow hopes that the tactics of small steps will eventually lead to mutually acceptable solutions on the most important issues on the bilateral agenda, he added.