US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due in Brussels on May 13 ahead of a visit to Russia — his first as the top US diplomat — for talks with Presi
U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due in Brussels on May 13 ahead of a visit to Russia — his first as the top U. S. diplomat — for talks with President Vladimir Putin amid persistent tensions between Washington and Moscow.
The talks will be the highest-level formal discussions held between U. S. and Russian officials since July 2018, when President Donald Trump and Putin held a one-on-one meeting in Finland.
In Brussels, Pompeo will meet with European officials for talks on Iran and other issues, canceling what had been a planned Moscow leg of his Russian trip, a State Department official said late on May 12.
Pompeo had been scheduled to meet in the Russian capital with embassy officials and members of the U. S. business community, which has been rattled by the arrest in recent months of two Americans, including prominent investor Michael Calvey.
Pompeo is scheduled to meet Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as planned on May 14, the State Department official added.
