President Trump will meet with Russia’s top diplomat in the Oval Office on Wednesday, according to the White House.
The unusual huddle with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be be the highest level face-to-face contact between Trump and the Russian government so far.
Lavrov is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier Wednesday
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The meeting with Lavrov will come a day after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who publicly confirmed the existence of an FBI investigation into Russian connections to the Trump campaign.
Lavrov has not visited Washington since 2013, a year before Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region in Ukraine.
The Trump administration has clashed recently with Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s government over Syria.
Trump authorized a missile attack on a Syrian airbase last month over a reported chemical strike there by forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar Assad, a Putin ally.
Lavrov’s visit comes amid heightened scrutiny of Russia, with the FBI and congressional committees probing Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 race.
Updated 10:41 p.m.