USA – Russia: New Meeting of Washington and Moscow Delegations to Take Place Tomorrow
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio canceled a planned meeting in Washington with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas
Delegations of US and Russian diplomats will meet in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday, February 27. The two sides will continue to work on the agreements reached last week in Riyadh by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The main topic of the upcoming meeting will be “normalizing work of the respective embassies in Moscow and Washington,” Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov told a press conference. He has already arrived in Turkey, where he held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (pictured) and was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Following the meetings, Lavrov said he discussed with the Turkish leadership “bilateral cooperation, the security of the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the Red Sea, which are subject to constant Ukrainian terrorist attacks, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine.”
In his turn, Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan emphasized that Ankara was eager to “play an important role in maintaining peace between Russia and Ukraine.” He said Turkey was an “ideal place” for talks between Kiev and Moscow. “Since the beginning of the conflict, we have supported peace initiatives involving both sides,” Fidan recalled, referring to the talks held in Ankara in March 2022.
While there has been significant progress in normalizing Russian-US relations, tensions between Washington and Brussels continue to escalate, with strong winds of war still blowing in the corridors of EU headquarters.
Contrary to previously announced plans, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “due to scheduling issues” will not be able to hold talks with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, who is visiting Washington. The Estonian official “will meet with members of the Democratic Party in the US Congress to discuss the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the prospects for transatlantic relations.” However, if rumors that leaked from the White House are to be believed, Rubio canceled the scheduled meeting after extremely disappointing talks with Kallas on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.