Kremlin signals Russia-US talks on Ukraine not immediate

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(Reuters) – The Kremlin said in remarks published on Tuesday that the next round of Russia-U.S. talks on ending the war in Ukraine is unlikely to happen before the embassies of both countries resume normal operations.

“Unlikely,” Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of President Vladimir Putin, told RIA state news agency in response to a question whether the negotiations could start before the two countries’ embassies fully reopen. Operations have been curtailed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine after his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, deepening the fissure that has opened between the two allies.

Before Trump began his second term as U.S. president in January, ties between the two nuclear superpowers of Russia and the United States had plummeted to their lowest in decades following Russia’s invasion.

Trump, who has promised a quick end to the war, has upended U.S. policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow, including calls and meetings that have alarmed Washington’s European allies and Kyiv.

At the end of February, Russia and U.S. teams held hours of talks in Turkey, narrowly focusing on restoring normal functioning of their embassies, and Putin said initial contacts with Trump’s new administration had inspired hope.

Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington, the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries, but it remains unclear when the full work of both embassies will resume.

Peskov also told RIA that it was too early say where the next round of talks between Russia and the United States might take place.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle)