Islam Times - Pompeo Will Receive his Russian Counterpart Tomorrow in Washington

Islam Times - The United States announced on Monday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will receive, on Tuesday, his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on his first visit to the US capital since his controversial meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in 2017.

A brief statement by the US State Department about the visit said Pompeo and Lavrov will meet at the ministry’s headquarters in Washington to discuss “a wide range of regional and bilateral issues.”

On Friday, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman indicated that a meeting between Lavrov and Pompeo was being prepared for Tuesday.

The meeting's agenda is likely to top the situation in Syria and Ukraine, especially since the Washington meeting will come in the wake of the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelinsky, on Monday in Paris over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Pompeo met with Lavrov last September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

But Lavrov has not made an official visit to the US capital since his famous meeting with Trump at the White House in May 2017, after which allegations emerged that Trump disclosed classified information at the meeting.

Pictures of the meeting showed Lavrov, Trump and the then Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, he was later removed from office as they exchanged laughter.