Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is traveling to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin for the highest-level talks in 10 months, it was announced Friday.
Pompeo will arrive in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Sunday and stay through Tuesday for the talks that will also include Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said.
There they plan to “discuss the full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges,” the State Department said in a statement.
While President Trump has sought closer ties, the meeting comes as the two countries clash over several issues, including Venezuela, Syria and Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.
The trip marks the most significant US interaction with Putin since July, when Trump met the Russian leader in Finland.
Pompeo will also visit Moscow, where he will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier dedicated to Soviet troops killed in World War II — an era when Moscow and Washington were allied.



