Mike Pompeo, the
US secretary of state, expects a planned visit to
Moscow by
national security adviser John Bolton will lead to a meeting between
Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with political columnist Hugh Hewitt aired on MSNBC on Saturday, Pompeo said Bolton was planning to travel to Moscow on Sunday or Monday.
“And I think it’s likely President Trump will be meeting with his counterpart in the not too distant future following that meeting,” Pompeo said.
Asked if Trump might visit Moscow in the summer, Pompeo said he did not know the president’s schedule.
Russian media quoted the Kremlin as saying on Tuesday there were no plans for a meeting between Trump and Putin before a Nato summit in Brussels on 11-12 July. Trump is expected to attend.
Pompeo said that in conversations with
Russia, the US was “trying to find places where we have overlapping interests, but protecting American interest where we do not”.
He said that in two conversations with Russian foreign finister Sergei Lavrov since becoming secretary of state in April, he had expressed concerns about Russian interference in US elections and its behavior in Syria and Ukraine.
But the former CIA director added: “Where there’s places we can find common ground, we’ll certainly try and do that.”
Trump and Putin have met twice on the sidelines of global summits and they have spoken at least eight times by telephone.