Enter the building: Russia expects to return diplomatic property under the Trump administration

Russia will seek the return of its diplomatic property to the United States under the administration of Donald Trump, this is one of the main issues in the dialogue between Moscow and Washington, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Izvestia. Following the successful negotiations on normalization of bilateral relations in Istanbul, the delegations are preparing to meet again this week. The exact dates have not yet been disclosed, however, the fact of the meeting has already been confirmed by Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Politico says that the heads of state will also call in the coming days. However, despite the intensity of contacts between the Russian Federation and the United States, the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis is still far away, according to the American expert community. How the Russian-American dialogue is progressing is in the Izvestia article.

Russia and the United States will hold a new round of talks this week.

The next meeting of the Russian and American delegations is expected in the near future. This was stated by the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev.: "Next week," Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy said in an interview with Channel One on April 6 following his visit to Washington.

Dmitriev visited the United States on April 2 and 3, the first trip by a senior Russian official to Washington since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. On behalf of the president, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund held talks with key figures of the American administration, including Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. The United States and Russia are starting a respectful, good dialogue, Dmitriev said.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Washington, USA, April 4, 2025

Photo: TASS/Zuma/Mehmet Eser

The purpose of the contacts was mainly to discuss the restoration of Russian-American relations in the economic and investment spheres. In particular, the range of topics included possible projects on rare earth metals, in the Arctic and in the field of LNG.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced preparations for a new meeting. The head of Russian diplomacy noted that with the approval of the presidents of Russia and the United States, work is underway to "eliminate irritants" that interfere with the functioning of the embassies of both countries.

One of the developments in this process was the appointment of the Russian Ambassador to the United States, whose post has remained vacant since October 2024. On March 26, Alexander Darchiev arrived in Washington to fulfill his duties. The ambassador promised to deal with the issues of visas for Russians, the resumption of flights, as well as the restoration of diplomatic property.

Responding to a question from Izvestia about whether the issue of the return of diplomatic property to the United States is on the agenda of the Russian-American talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called it one of the main topics.

— Yes, absolutely. This is one of the main issues," Sergei Ryabkov told Izvestia.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Konkov

The diplomat also noted that Russia's task is to try to restore diplomatic security under the administration of Donald Trump.

— This is our task. We will seek to resolve it," the diplomat said.

In 2017, as a result of anti-Russian sanctions, the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in San Francisco, the trade mission in Washington and its branch in New York were closed. In 2018, the Consulate General of the Russian Federation was closed in Seattle. In addition, Russian diplomats lost access to the Killenworth estate on Long Island near New York, as well as to a country complex in Maryland, 100 km from Washington, both of which were used as vacation cottages for diplomats. Some of the facilities were owned by the Russian Federation, while others were leased.

How is the Russian-American negotiation process going?

The negotiation process between the Russian Federation and the United States and not only on the normalization of diplomatic relations began after a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on February 12. The first face—to—face meeting of the Russian and US delegations took place in Saudi Arabia on February 18. At that time, Moscow was represented by Sergey Lavrov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, and Washington was represented by head of the State Department Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and the same Steve Witkoff.

On February 27, Russian-American negotiations on a narrower pool of issues — to eliminate problems in the work of embassies — were held in a closed format in Istanbul.

Bilateral talks between representatives of the Russian Federation and the United States in Riyadh, February 18, 2025

Photo: RIA Novosti/Russian Foreign Ministry

After that, the second round of negotiations began. On March 14, Steve Witkoff visited Moscow, where he was personally received by Vladimir Putin. Thus, the head of the Russian Federation, through Trump's special envoy, conveyed the Russian position on a number of issues. On March 18, Putin and Trump called again, and one of the most important outcomes of this call was an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days. Sources of the Politico publication claim that a new telephone conversation between the leaders can be expected in the near future.

Despite the agreements, Kiev immediately violated them. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since March 18, the Ukrainian side has not stopped strikes. In the last three days alone, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have carried out several dozen attacks on Russian energy infrastructure facilities.

The next meeting of the delegations, again in Saudi Arabia, took place on March 24. Russia was already represented by Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council's International Affairs Committee, and Sergey Beseda, Adviser to the FSB Director. The main result was the decision to resume the Black Sea initiative.

Thus, the United States should act as a guarantor for restoring access to the world market for exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers, reducing the cost of insurance for maritime transportation, as well as expanding access to ports and payment systems for such transactions. In particular, for this, the Rosselkhoznadzor should have access to the SWIFT system.

"We supported, as I have already said, the readiness of the United States, which was recorded on paper after the March 24 meeting, but added specific proposals on how this can be done in practice," Sergey Lavrov commented on the situation with the Black Sea initiative.

The minister noted that such proposals are necessary in order not to repeat the experience of the grain deal originally approved in July 2022, when Ukraine used ports in the Black Sea to export its grain, but obligations towards the Russian Federation were not fulfilled.

— In general, the prospects for a lasting peaceful settlement at the moment look gloomy. The root of the problem is that Washington does not seem willing to recognize Russia's territorial gains and does not want to adhere to any of its conditions, which delays the possibility of resolving the conflict. In addition, Zelensky and Ukraine seem to be mistaken in thinking that they can win with the help of Western weapons when they are waging an impossible—to-win war, American expert Jeremy Kuzmarov believes.

Both sides express some skepticism about progress. After Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov handed Mike Waltz a list of violations of the truce by Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov stressed that Moscow was waiting "not for promises, but for concrete actions." Washington seems to be masking the delay in accepting the Russian terms with dissatisfaction with the speed of negotiations.

- President Trump will not be trapped in endless negotiations about negotiations. If Russia is serious about putting an end to the conflict, that will be fine.: we could move towards peace. If not, we will have to rethink our approach," Rubio said.

By the way, it is precisely because of the ongoing peace negotiations that Russia was not included in the long list of countries against which Washington imposes duties. This was confirmed by Kevin Hassett, head of the National Economic Council at the White House. He noted that it is about saving the lives that the parties lose in the conflict, so it would be counterproductive to raise the issue of duties during attempts to achieve peace.