American and Russian delegations are meeting in Istanbul today to discuss normalizing the work of their diplomatic missions, after the war in Ukraine sparked the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
The talks will be led by Russia's new ambassador, Alexander Darchiev, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter. According to Moscow and Washington, the main focus is on restoring cooperation between diplomatic missions after years of bickering, allegations of mutual intimidation and even a freeze of diplomatic assets between the two nuclear powers.
As a US State Department spokesperson explained, Ukraine is absolutely not on the agenda, A2 writes.
Meanwhile, Britain and France have called a meeting of defense ministers from 30 countries to discuss plans to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to oversee a possible ceasefire.
The meeting at NATO headquarters is the first among defense ministers representing the so-called coalition of the willing. It follows a visit to Kiev last week by British and French military officials.
The US will not be present at the meeting, but the success of the coalition will depend precisely on the support that the US will have to offer through air defense or other military assistance. (A2 Televizion)
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