U.S Mike Pompeo to meet with Vladimir Putin in Russia next week

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, next week, according to the State Department.

Pompeo will meet with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday to discuss “the full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges,” the department said in a press release. Pompeo is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on Monday with a diplomatic team.

The two countries are facing tension on a number of fronts around the world, including in Venezuela, Iran and North Korea.

News of the trip comes one week after a lengthy phone call between President Donald Trump and Putin, the first such high-level conversation since special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election was released to the public.

Trump said after the call that the two discussed the “Russian Hoax” in addition to a variety of other issues. But Trump said they did not talk about Russian interference in future U.S. elections.

The meeting also follows the abrupt cancellation this week of a meeting between Pompeo and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. The State Department cited “pressing issues” at the time.

Pompeo met with Lavrov earlier this month. The two held talks in Finland on May 6, which Russian media said made the phone call between Trump and Putin possible.

source:CNBC