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Pompeo to meet Putin on Russia visit: State Department

Pompeo to meet Putin on Russia visit: State Department

Mike Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be travelling to Russia on May 12-14, where he will meet President Vladimir Putinand Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said on Friday.

The State Department also said that Pompeo will meet Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Pompeo and Putin will discuss the full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges.

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Russia earlier announced Pompeo's visit but it had been unclear whether he would meet Putin. He will also hold talks in Sochi with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov -- their second meeting in as many weeks after they met on the sidelines of an Arctic conference in Helsinki.

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.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump met Putin on May 4 to discuss Venezuela crisis.

"It was a very positive conversation," Trump said. "He is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he'd like to see something positive happen for Venezuela."

US-Russian tensions have spiked over the months-long standoff in Venezuela, and the Kremlin's assessment of the Trump-Putin call differed substantially from that coming from the White House.