According to the AFP, Pompeo will visit Putin in the balmy Black Sea resort of Sochi to see if Russia and Washington can make headway on a raft of disagreements from arms control to the raging Venezuela and Iran crises.
Speaking hours before the visit, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed what he called Washington's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, saying it would only drive Tehran into a corner.
Besides Iran, Washington and Moscow are at loggerheads on an array of urgent strategic questions, including Venezuela, the Syrian civil war and the conflict in Ukraine.
The US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he expected a "very fruitful meeting" with Putin at the G20 summit in Japan next month, only for Peskov to deny Washington had requested such a meeting.
Prior to Russia visit, the US secretary of state visited the foreign ministers of the three major European countries and EU foreign policy chief Mogherini with Iran atop their agenda on Monday but the meeting ended without issuing a joint statement. The European countries appear to be in disagreement with Washington over Iran nuclear deal.
On the anniversary of the unilateral and unlawful US withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal known as the JCPOA on May 8 2019, Iran announced it would stop some commitments under the deal and gave 60 days to the remaining signatories to the JCPOA to fulfill their previously made promises with regard to oil and banking sectors.
KI