Russia's Security Service alleged that Ukraine's military intelligence agency was behind an assassination plot targeting Tikhon Shevkunov.

The first contacts with the new American administration give us some hope,” the Russian president said in televised comments on Thursday.

Russia and the U.S. will seek to mend diplomatic ties during talks also focused on ending the conflict in Ukraine as part of a surprise rapprochement under President Donald Trump.

The US and Russia are in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Ukraine hasn’t been invited to the talks. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he won’t recognise a peace deal that is negotiated without his country being involved in the negotiation.

Witkoff, Trump’s top negotiator, said the U.S. would be looking to talks from early in the war as a basis for a deal. Ukraine’s supporters saw it as an embrace of a Kremlin talking point.

Russian and U.S. teams held six hours of talks in Turkey on Thursday to try to restore the normal functioning of their embassies, and President Vladimir Putin said initial contacts with Donald Trump's new administration had inspired hope.

Russian and U.S. diplomats have held talks in Istanbul to discuss ways to normalize the operation of their embassies after diplomatic expulsions.