Russia Cites Venue Dispute as Reason for Cancelled U.S. Embassy Talks, Says Putin Adviser

Russia cited a disagreement over the meeting location as the reason for the cancellation of a scheduled third round of discussions with the United States last week. Moscow officials had previously stated that these talks would aim at resuming the operations of both nations’ diplomatic missions.

“There was an understanding to convene at a particular site, but for various reasons, that site was not acceptable to [U.S. representatives],” Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov conveyed to reporter Pavel Zurubin on the weekly news program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin,” which was broadcast on Sunday.

“The primary issue is the location,” Ushakov explained, anticipating that Washington would suggest another venue for the discussions, although the U.S. has yet to publicly acknowledge the meeting, despite Russian officials asserting it would take place “soon.”

Earlier this month, Russia’s new ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, mentioned that the next round of embassy discussions would occur in Moscow, asserting that both parties had agreed to alternate the location between Moscow and Washington for future negotiations.

Representatives from both nations previously convened on February 27 and April 10 in Istanbul, after a meeting earlier in February between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia. The February talks marked the first direct engagement between Russian and American officials since the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In recent statements, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov indicated that Moscow intends to seek “clearer responses” from Washington regarding its proposal to reinstate direct flights between Russia and the U.S., as well as the return of six diplomatic properties owned by Russia that were seized between 2016 and 2018 amid allegations of election interference.

As per the Kremlin’s stance, U.S. officials have linked the revival of direct flights to progress on achieving a ceasefire in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far repudiated U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to negotiate a cessation of hostilities in the conflict.

Russia initially suggested the reinstatement of air travel during discussions in Istanbul on February 27, during a time when the incoming Trump administration was seeking to alleviate tensions with Moscow.