Countermove: Russia expects to hold consultations with the United States soon

Russia and the United States are currently agreeing on the place and time of the third round of consultations to eliminate "irritants" in bilateral relations, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia. They stressed that they expect such a meeting to be held soon. Following two rounds of negotiations, Moscow and Washington have resolved the most pressing issues, and now the resumption of direct flights is on the agenda. Potential topics of interest to Moscow and Washington are cooperation in space and the development of rare earth metal deposits. For example, there is a possibility of a joint manned flight to the Moon, Sergey Krikalev, Deputy General Director of Roscosmos, told Izvestia. The pause in the negotiations has dragged on, and a new impetus is needed to activate the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States, experts say.

When will the new round of consultations between Russia and the United States take place?

Russia expects to hold a third round of consultations soon to eliminate "irritants" in relations with the United States, and the parties are currently agreeing on the dates and venue of the talks. This was stated to Izvestia by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

— The dates and venue of the third round of consultations on the so-called irritants in Russian-American relations are in the process of being agreed. We hope that they will take place soon enough," the Russian diplomatic department told Izvestia.

Moscow and Washington are clearing up the "toxic legacy" of the previous American administration, which hindered bilateral relations.

— There are a lot of rubble in the bilateral dossier as the "toxic legacy" of Joseph Biden, which requires methodical clearing. Without going into technical details, we note that there are really major issues on the agenda right now, the solution of which requires time and political will, as well as a certain delicacy in conducting the negotiation process. Therefore, logistical parameters inevitably fade into the background," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed to Izvestia.

Recall that the restoration of dialogue between Russia and the United States began with the coming to power of President Donald Trump in January 2025. The two leaders spoke on the phone seven times, and on August 15 they held a personal meeting in Alaska. Contacts have also been established between the heads of diplomatic departments: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in February in Riyadh and in July in Kuala Lumpur. Their third meeting is scheduled during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, which is currently taking place in New York, said Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzia.

A separate issue in bilateral relations is the elimination of "irritants" in the work of embassies. And, in particular, the return of Russian diplomatic property confiscated by the United States. Recall that at the end of 2016, the administration of Barack Obama closed several buildings of foreign institutions of the Russian Federation. The parties also launched several waves of expulsions of diplomats, and financial restrictions were imposed on embassies.

Negotiations on resolving these issues took place on February 27 and April 10 in Istanbul. As Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated in an interview with Izvestia in July, Moscow and Washington removed the most acute problems in the bilateral dossier concerning visas and delegation exchanges, and also normalized financial services for foreign institutions in both countries.

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The third meeting of Russian and American negotiators was planned in Moscow. However, in June, the United States unexpectedly canceled a new round of dialogue, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at the time. The pause in the negotiations dragged on, and the first impulse to restore relations between the Russian Federation and the United States, which we saw at the beginning of the year, ran out at some stage, Andrei Kortunov, an expert at Valdai, told Izvestia.

"Although these are technical issues, they depend on the general atmosphere of bilateral relations and the decisions that are made, including at the highest level," the expert believes.

Kortunov is confident that if there is a new impetus, then there will probably be progress. Otherwise, only sluggish consultations between the two countries are possible. At the same time, the dialogue on strategic stability is of particular importance now. In February 2026, the START III treaty expires, which established the basic parameters of the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States. Moscow is ready to adhere to its central restrictions for a year after the agreement expires, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with members of the Russian Security Council on September 22. At the same time, the future of strategic stability depends on the actions of the United States.

Areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington

Moscow and Washington have already expressed a desire to cooperate in several areas, despite the difficult process of the Ukrainian settlement. After the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska, a completely new stage of conversation and contacts began, Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council's International Affairs Committee, told Izvestia.

Flights to the United States may resume before the end of 2025, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and special presidential envoy for investment and economic cooperation with Foreign countries, admitted in mid-June. The Russian side has already prepared and submitted the necessary documents to Washington, Russian Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiev said in August. The diplomat added that consultations on the normalization of air traffic should take place in the near future.

The second promising area is cooperation in space. In July, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, visited the United States, where he met with the leadership of NASA and visited several enterprises. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the heads of the two countries' space agencies in eight years. The special nature of relations between Russia and the United States in space was also confirmed by presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The two countries are the main participants in the ISS project, and its operation will last at least until 2028, Bakanov said.

Mining: Russia and the United States have begun negotiations on rare earth metals

Some American companies have already shown interest in the projects.

There is also the possibility of joint manned flights to the Moon with the United States, Sergey Krikalev, Deputy Director General for Manned Space Programs at Roscosmos, told Izvestia.

— There are no specific plans yet, but there are such possibilities, in principle, — said Krikalev.

The prospects for cooperation in the economy remain open. Earlier, Vladimir Putin announced his readiness to cooperate with the United States in the extraction of rare earth metals. Kirill Dmitriev told Izvestia in March that Moscow and Washington were conducting a dialogue on joint projects in this area.

There is also potential for cooperation between Russia and the United States in the Arctic. Cooperation there is possible in the fields of production and transportation of hydrocarbons, fertilizers, non-ferrous and precious metals, Russian Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexei Chekunkov said in May. The United States' participation in natural gas liquefaction projects is also being discussed.

Andrei Kortunov notes that cooperation between the Russian Federation and the United States can hardly take on a wide scale without changing the sanctions regime in favor of its mitigation or complete abolition. Richard Bensel, a professor at Cornell University in New York, noted in a comment to Izvestia that Trump's behavior towards Russia is very difficult to predict, since there are a number of parallel factors that can influence his actions.

In particular, the EU leadership is trying to convince Washington to join the new sanctions against Russia. The current administration is also under pressure from within the United States: in addition to the Democrats, there are anti-Russian politicians in the ranks of the Republican Party. For example, Senator Lindsey Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Rosfinmonitoring) insists on imposing duties on energy resources from the Russian Federation.