Pompeo to accompany Trump for summit with Putin

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will accompany President Donald Trump to Helsinki, Finland for the much-anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16.

Pompeo will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and hold discussions on a range of issues on the US-Russian agenda.

"US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo will accompany President Donald J. Trump to Helsinki, Finland, for the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16. While in Helsinki, Secretary Pompeo will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss a range of issues on the US-Russian agenda," United States State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert, said, in a statement.

The US secretary will also meet with his Finnish counterpart Timo Soini to discuss bilateral and regional issues.

The Trump-Putin summit is likely to take place for several hours and the two presidents will address a joint news conference after it, according to the Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov.

This summit will be the third time that both the leaders would meet face-to-face.

Putin and Trump first met during the G20 summit in Germany's Hamburg in July last year and again met for the second time in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam in November last year.

Earlier in March this year, the two leaders held a telephonic conversation, where Trump had invited Putin to visit Washington D.C.

It is to be noted that relations between US and Russia are greatly strained due to the crisis in Ukraine, Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2015, differences regarding Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war, and the alleged meddling of 2016 US presidential election.

Washington D.C. has repeatedly condemned Moscow's actions in Ukraine and imposed sanctions over the same since 2014.

--ANI