"The recovery of Russian-American relations is still a long way off," ambassador Alexander Darchiev told TASS news agency, adding that the rapprochement was being slowed by the so-called U.S. "deep state" and anti-Russian "hawks" in Congress.

Russian and U.S. delegations will hold talks in Moscow in the near future, Russian Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiev said in an interview with state-controlled news agency TASS on June 10.

Talks between the United States and Russia on resolving issues in their bilateral relations will move to Moscow from Istanbul, Russia's new ambassador to Washington told the state TASS news agency.

The European Union announced a new package of sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, saying that Moscow’s daily deadly attacks against Ukraine show that it is not interested in peace – despite recent diplomatic efforts.

Russia said on Wednesday it was ready to remove nuclear materials from Iran and convert them into fuel as a potential way to help narrow differences between the United States and Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

Russia's lead negotiator in peace talks with Ukraine warned on Monday that any deal that did not secure his country's lasting interests would ultimately result in "the end of the planet."

Russian forces have advanced into Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions, in fresh bid for Ukrainian land beyond what Moscow's already annexed.

On Tuesday, the two warring countries said they had exchanged captured soldiers, the second stage of an agreement struck at peace talks last week.

Russian lawmakers on Tuesday voted for the development of a state-backed messaging app that would be closely integrated with government services, as Moscow strives to reduce its dependency on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.