Russian diplomat hopes for new US talks this autumn

The United States and Russia held two sets of talks in Istanbul largely devoted to diplomacy and the operation of embassies - one meeting in February, the second in April. U.S. President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin have since met - last month in Alaska - but those talks have yet to lead to an agreement to end more than 3-1/2 years of war in Ukraine. Sergei Ryabkov, a deputy foreign minister, told TASS news agency that among the reasons for a delay in arranging a new meeting on diplomatic matters was a desire on both sides to avoid a failure to achieve significant results.