Russian officials appointed a new ambassador to the U.S. this week, announcing their intention to send Alexander Darchiev to Washington to help mend the troubled relationship between the two global leaders.

Darchiev, tapped to serve as the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department of North America, met with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter on Thursday in Istanbul. The exchange comes as relations between the U.S. and Russia have thawed after sanctions were imposed on the eastern European nation following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Joint measures were agreed upon to ensure the unfettered mutual financing of Russian and US diplomatic missions’ operations and to establish appropriate conditions for diplomats to fulfil their official duties,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday in a press release.

Darchiev and Coulter also discussed restoring six U.S. properties owned by Russia that the country claims were “unlawfully seized” between 2016 and 2018. Officials have also urged the White........

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