The US State Department refuses to talk about the resumption of direct air links with Russia, Russian Ambassador to Washington Alexander Darchiev told Kommersant.
According to him, the US foreign ministry also does not want to discuss the return of “six de facto confiscated items of diplomatic real estate belonging to the Russian Federation on the right of private property.” Darchiev claims that U.S. intelligence agencies, which have taken these facilities under guard, are “illegally preventing the Russian ambassador and our diplomats from travelling there.”
In late February 2025, Russian representatives at talks with the U.S. side in Istanbul proposed resuming direct flights between the countries. Before that, at the talks in Riyadh, Moscow and Washington agreed to restore the number of embassies in Moscow and Washington, as well as to restore the normal operation of diplomatic agencies.
In early March 2022, shortly after the Russian army’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States closed its airspace to Russian aircraft. The decree issued by then US President Joe Biden concerned passenger, cargo and charter flights.