As per a report from Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency Interfax, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian side, when discussing the resumption of direct flights, offered the United States to lift sanctions from Aeroflot, but there has been no response yet.
At a press conference in Almaty, Sergey Lavrov was asked whether the possible restoration of air traffic with the United States would entail the lifting of sanctions against Aeroflot.
"It (the resumption of flights - ed.) will not entail, it should be a consequence of the withdrawal of Aeroflot from sanctions. We made this proposal even before the meeting in Riyadh more than a month ago. The Americans accepted it. So far, we have not seen any retaliatory step," the minister said.
Lavrov reported that the proposal to lift sanctions on Aeroflot had been presented during a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over a month ago. According to Lavrov, US representatives acknowledged the proposal during talks but took no action to remove the sanctions.
According to Sergey Lavrov, at the meeting with the United States recently, the Russian delegation recalled this proposal.
"To be honest, I have not had the opportunity to contact them yet. Maybe there was some progress there, but it is not yet known. But we will work on this, because this is a return to normality," the Russian Foreign Minister said.
Lavrov added that the Russians recalled their proposal at the latest talks in Istanbul. On Thursday 10 April, delegations from the United States and Russia arrived in Istanbul for talks to normalise the work of their diplomatic missions.
Direct flights between Russia and the United States were suspended in 2022. American airlines are prohibited from entering Russian airspace, and airlines from Russia are accordingly not allowed to enter American airspace.
In the same year, Aeroflot came under American sanctions. At yesterday's talks, Russian Ambassador to Washington Alexander Darchiev, who headed the Russian delegation, stressed that the resumption of flights would help expand business and public ties between the countries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that the United States and the Russian Federation agreed to develop a "road map" for the return of six Russian diplomatic properties seized by the US authorities.
The head of the Russian delegation and the Russian Federation in the United States, Alexander Darchiev, stressed the importance of "urgent practical steps" on this issue, including the admission of Russian representatives to the facilities for inspection and assessment of the damage caused.
Darchiev also noted that the talks on April 10 were about the potential "resumption of direct flights between Moscow and Washington." This, in his opinion, would expand business ties and contacts between Russians and Americans. Russia also made a similar proposal to the United States during talks in Istanbul on February 27.
