US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flies to Russia on Monday for talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin.
ADVERTISEMENTUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will fly to Russia on Monday for talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin. Arms control is expected to be high on the American agenda. Washington pulled out of an Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia in February but insists it is still committed to weapons reduction.
"I don’t watch much TV but I’ve seen the media mandarins swear up and down that America was putting the world closer to nuclear war,” said Pompeo earlier this month. “But the 28 NATO allies unanimously concurred: Russia is in violation of the treaty. Putting Vladimir Putin closer to an asymmetric advantage of his nuclear forces. Why would one party honour a deal when the other wouldn’t? It made no sense."
The talks will take place in Sochi in the first time Pompeo visits Russia as Secretary of State.
Venezuela and Syria are also likely to feature high on the agenda.