U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Donald Trump is likely to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "in the not-too-distant future."
The White House announced on June 21 that national security adviser John Bolton will travel to Moscow next week to explore the idea of a meeting.
In an interview with MSNBC aired on June 23, Pompeo said "Trump will be meeting with his counterpart in the not-too-distant future following" Bolton’s trip to Moscow.
Pompeo said the United States was "trying to find places where we have overlapping interests, but protecting American interests where we do not."
He said that in conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov since becoming secretary of state in April, he had expressed concerns about Russian interference in U.S. elections and its behavior in Syria and Ukraine.
Trump and Putin have met twice on the sidelines of international summits and they have spoken at least eight times by telephone.
