Russia and the United States have carried out a new exchange of prisoners this Thursday in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) mediated by their respective intelligence agencies. It is another step towards the, which has gained impulse since the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House and that has involved the multiplication of negotiations in various formats, from the direct conversations between the US president and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to those invaded by the Kremlin and the full ones, of which a new meeting has been held this Thursday.
The director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, announced the achievement of this agreement, which implies the liberation of Ksenia Karelina, of dual Russian-American nationality and sentenced to 12 years in prison and forced labor in a criminal colony for transferring 51 dollars (about 45 euros) to a Ukraine NGO with headquarters in the US Petrov, of dual German-Rusa nationality and that had been arrested in Cyprus in 2023 and extradited to the US, accused of exporting to Russia American technological material for possible military use. Karelina’s lawyers have confirmed the release of their client and that in the morning of this Thursday (around 8.40, Spanish peninsular time) had embarked on an airplane in Abu Dabi to the United States.
Also this Thursday, US delegations and Russia have met in Istanbul to advance negotiations on the normalization of their diplomatic relations. In the meeting, aspects related to but only the activity of the diplomatic legations whose functioning has resent the last decade for the sanctions and reprisals adopted by both capitals have not been addressed.
The Russian ambassador to Washington, Alexander Darchiev, led the negotiators of his country, while the Americans were headed by the Deputy Deputy Secretary for European Affairs of the State Department, Sonata Coulter. This Thursday’s meeting was held at the Consulate General of Russia in Istanbul, in the central Istiklal Avenue, as a continuation of the meeting held on February 27, in the residence of the US general consul, also in the city of Bosphorus. That meeting, which lasted for six hours, was defined as “substantial” by the Russian Foreign Ministry and concluded with the commitment to continue negotiations under the same format. The choice of Turkey as the headquarters of these meetings is due to the fact that the Euroasy country has hosted various negotiations between Washington and Moscow – because it is considered a more or less neutral land: although it is part of NATO, it has not applied sanctions to Russia and gets along well with the governments of both countries.
The spokeswoman for the US Department of State, Tammy Bruce, clarified in an appearance last Tuesday that, in the Conversations of Istanbul, “Ukraine is not at all on the agenda”, since this issue is being discussed in the meetings in Riad between both countries. “There are no political or safety issues on the agenda [de negociación]. These conversations focus solely on the functioning of embassies, not even on the complete normalization of bilateral relations, which will only occur when there is peace between Russia and Ukraine, ”he said.
“Raise numerous obstacles”
“The parties will continue the work already in progress to raise the numerous obstacles, including techniques, which hinder the work of the diplomats,” said Russia’s exterior spokeswoman María Zajarova. According to the Russian news agency, Istanbul’s conversations focus on eliminating impediments to the free movement of diplomats in the country of destination, the credential expedition for new diplomats, financial restrictions due to sanctions – which make the payment of wages difficult – and the return of confiscated properties. The Reuters agency cites six Russian properties that have been closed by the US, including the Russian consulate in San Francisco and commercial missions in Washington and New York, closed in 2017 in retaliation for the expulsion of American diplomats in Russia. Darchiev, cited by Tass, described the Istanbul meeting as a way of “resolving the toxic heritage of the previous US administration.”
Since 2014, the various US administrations have taken measures against Moscow in protest of Putin’s aggressive policies in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, which in turn led to a spiral of reprisals between the two countries that have reduced diplomatic relations to its minimum since the time of the Cold War. However, with Trump’s re -election, Russia expects progressive standardization of ties.
