The political scientist assessed the Russian-American talks held in Istanbul.

The Russian Federation and the United States can discuss many topics in the framework of negotiations, including promising areas of cooperation in Africa and in space. Political analyst Alexander Asafov told Izvestia about this on April 11.

He recalled that the meeting held in Istanbul on April 10 was not devoted to the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.

"Russia and the United States need to discuss a lot of things, because these are not only, for example, circumstances arising from newly emerged stories like the tariff war, but also, of course, the resumption of communication in a number of key areas, including promising areas such as Africa, space, and so on," he said. — said Asafov.

According to the political scientist, the concrete results of the meetings can be seen when they are formalized at the level of reaching specific agreements.

He stressed that the prisoner exchange between the Russian Federation and the United States, the unannounced visit of US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian-American negotiations themselves, are all part of a large process that is difficult to call public.

Special diplomatic mission: Russia and the United States are moving away from Biden's legacy

Moscow and Washington discussed the restoration of embassy staff and direct flights, and exchanged prisoners.

Negotiations between the Russian Federation and the United States took place on April 10 in Istanbul. They lasted about six hours. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified that they were devoted exclusively to the normalization of bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.

As the participant of the meeting later reported, the Russian Ambassador to Washington, Alexander Darchiev, the Russian Federation and the United States, during consultations in Istanbul, agreed on further measures to facilitate the movement of diplomats and their visa processing. The initiatives will be worked out by the next round of negotiations, he explained.

Also on April 10, Russian Artur Petrov, who was detained in Cyprus in 2023 at the request of the United States, was exchanged in Abu Dhabi for Ksenia Karelina, a US citizen convicted of treason in Russia.

On April 11, Peskov announced Witkoff's arrival in Russia. He clarified that the Kremlin would inform Putin if a meeting with Trump's special envoy appeared on Putin's schedule.