U.S. Confirms Lavrov To Visit Washington, Meet With Pompeo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Washington to meet for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on December 10, the U.S. State Department has said in a brief statement.

The two countries' top diplomats will "discuss a broad range of regional and bilateral issues," according to the statement.

The Washington Post and AP on December 6 quoted senior U.S. officials as saying that a joint news conference was likely to follow.

They said the two diplomats would discuss Ukraine, Syria, arms control, and other issues related to currently tense U.S.-Russia relations.

A crucial summit in Paris precedes Lavrov's visit, where the leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia will have met to find a lasting a truce in the simmering military conflict in two eastern regions of Ukraine, where more than 13,000 people have been killed since April 2014.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said Lavrov's "meeting is being prepared" for December 10, but she did not provide details.

Pompeo and Lavrov have met several times over the past year and have spoken occasionally by phone.

Lavrov and Russia's then-ambassador to Washington, Sergei Kislyak, met at the White House with President Donald Trump in May 2017, prior to Pompeo becoming secretary of state.

It is unclear if Lavrov will meet with Trump during this visit.