Russia probe continues to heat up,

WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia are holding high-level negotiations that could lead to the return of two Russian diplomatic compounds seized as punishment for Moscow’s alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election, officials said Thursday. The talks are intensifying even as election-related investigations in Washington show no sign of ending.

Washington and Moscow are preparing for a second round of talks on removing “irritants” in their relationship and both sides are pushing aggressively for their priorities. For Russia, these include returning the New York and Maryland compounds seized by the Obama administration, according to Russian officials. The U.S. wants Russia to stop harassing American diplomats and civilians in the country, and to resolve a dispute related to the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, American officials said.

The officials weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The demands were outlined in detail at a first round of talks between Thomas Shannon, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, in New York last month. The diplomatic channel, created by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, aims to solve some of the smaller issues holding up a broader improvement in U.S.-Russian cooperation on such matters as ending Syria’s civil war.

The process still is in an early stage, U.S. officials said. The next get-together will take place later this month in St. Petersburg and isn’t expected to result in a deal, despite Russian complaints about delays and warnings of consequences if an agreement on the compounds isn’t reached quickly.