Russia seeks dialogue with the United States on restoring direct flights

(Patria) - Moscow is seeking dialogue with Washington on restoring direct flights between the two countries, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with TASS.

"There are a number of long-standing issues on which we have not yet managed to achieve tangible progress. In particular, this concerns easing the rules for Russian diplomatic staff to allow them to travel outside a 25-mile radius of diplomatic missions. The Americans initially opposed discussing the return of illegally seized Russian diplomatic property, but as a result of the hard work of our negotiators, they agreed to consider a roadmap on this issue," Ryabkov pointed out.

"To put it mildly, at the moment they are not very enthusiastic about the Russian proposal to restore direct flights between our countries, but we are continuing our efforts to engage the US in a substantive dialogue on this issue. Despite this, there is much to be done to resolve the accumulated problems. The date of the next round of consultations on irritating issues is currently being considered," the diplomat added.

Ryabkov noted that, in accordance with the orders of the two presidents, Russia and the US have held two rounds of consultations on ways "to improve the work of the diplomatic missions of both countries".

"In practice, we have managed to agree and exchange notes on the unimpeded financing of the diplomatic missions of the two countries and the secure transfer of funds denominated in US dollars. Some progress has also been made in issuing visas, which previously took a year and a half to two years."