Senior U.S. and Russian envoys are to meet next week in Scandinavia in a bid to calm escalating diplomatic tensions that have sparked a return to Cold War-era animosity, U.S. officials said Friday. The State Department's third-ranking official, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, will meet on Monday and Tuesday in Finland with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Next week's talks come amid escalating U.S.-Russia disputes that have seen the closure of diplomatic compounds and expulsions of diplomats. Russia's complaints include U.S. sanctions imposed after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and the seizure of its properties. Two earlier rounds of talks between Shannon and Ryabkov ended inconclusively.

Source: Fox News September 09, 2017 05:15 UTC