The second round of talks between the US and Russia has started in Istanbul.

A US delegation arrived on Thursday at the Russian Consulate General in Istanbul at 0645 GMT for talks to normalise embassy operations between the two countries.

On Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that delegations would meet for a second round of talks in Istanbul to address efforts to "further stabilise the operations of their bilateral missions".

Stating that "there are no political or security issues on the agenda", she stressed that issues related to Ukraine are "absolutely not on the agenda".

The talks, taking place at the residence of the Russian Consul General in Istanbul, are expected to last several hours but are unlikely to be as long as the previous round, which lasted more than six hours.

The Russian delegation will be led by Russia's Ambassador to the US, Alexander Darchiev, while the US delegation will be led by Deputy Assistant Secretary Sonata Coulter.

Ahead of the meeting, Darchiev announced that some progress had already been made on several issues.

Both Moscow and Washington have complained in recent years about the difficulties of getting credentials for their diplomats, making the operation of their embassies extremely difficult.

Russia has said that even paying diplomats has become difficult due to Western restrictions, while US diplomats say their movements are restricted in Russia. Both sides have complained of intimidation.

Among the issues is diplomatic property.

Washington has put six Russian properties under restrictions, including the Killenworth estate on Long Island, the Pioneer Point "dacha" in Maryland, the Russian consulates in San Francisco and Seattle and the trade missions in Washington and New York.