Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss the operation of their respective embassies, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Wednesday.

The meeting comes on the heels of Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia last week, which marked an extraordinary shift in US foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear departure from US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine. At the talks, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties.