Pompeo to meet with Putin today

Goal is better relations, but expectations not high

Washington — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will raise a host of issues dividing the United States and Russia when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, but their conversation is expected to accomplish little beyond the airing of opposing views.

In an indication that little concrete progress is expected when Pompeo meets with Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, State Department officials say the meeting is “an opportunity to take the conversation to a higher level.”

The White House and the Kremlin do not see eye to eye on several issues, including Venezuela, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Ukraine, arms control agreements, and Russian interference in elections in the United States and other countries. Pompeo has chastised Russia on these issues, repeatedly, but to little effect.

“We are not going to solve these issues overnight, but ... we have to be engaging to create opportunities for progress,” a State Department official told reporters in advance of Pompeo’s departure. The official said they are taking a “realistic approach” to a full range of disagreements that have undermined U.S.-Russian relations.

Pompeo is scheduled to fly this morning from Brussels to Sochi, the Black Sea resort where Putin has a summer home.

Pompeo and his entourage arrived Monday in Brussels, home of the European Union, after canceling a planned stop in Moscow for largely ceremonial events. The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and the EU were holding a sudden “Iran crisis” meeting to decide how to respond to the growing tension between Washington and Tehran.

Even as Pompeo arrived in Brussels, tensions in the Middle East surged again when Saudi Arabia said two of its oil tankers were attacked and damaged in an “act of sabotage.” Saudi officials did not say who was responsible; Saudi Arabia and Iran are regional rivals.

As the Trump administration has ratcheted up sanctions against Iran, banning most of its oil exports, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has threatened to stop complying with the 2015 nuclear deal unless Europe finds a way to get around the punishments. The landmark agreement, which gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, was also negotiated with the European nations, Russia and China. They all want to keep the deal alive and resent being caught in the middle because of the hard-line approach adopted by Trump.