Moscow, Russia - Russia on Monday said that the US had canceled a fresh round of talks on normalizing the operations of their embassies. Is communication breaking down between the countries?

It did not say why Washington had made the decision, and the US did not immediately comment.

The two sides had met twice before in Istanbul to discuss their diplomatic missions, and were due to meet for a third time in Moscow, Russia's US envoy said in an interview last week.

"The next meeting... has been canceled at the initiative of the American negotiators. We hope that the pause they have taken will not be too long," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Russia Russia pours cold water on potential three-way meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky

Since returning to the White House back in January, US President Donald Trump has sought to improve ties with the Kremlin, reaching out to Vladimir Putin directly and initiating direct talks between the two powerful nations.

Russian and US officials have since met to discuss a range of topics, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, their economic ties, and technical issues such as each of their diplomatic missions.

Both sides have been operating their embassies with skeleton staff for years due to diplomatic expulsions.