Trump awaits highest level face-to-face contact with Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump awaited the highest level face-to-face contact with Russia of his short time in office, scheduling a White House meeting today with Vladimir Putin's top diplomat.

The talks come one day after Trump fired the FBI director, who was overseeing an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Before that session, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stopped at the State Department to see Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said the get-together was a chance for the two to "continue our dialogue" and "exchange of views" they started last month in Moscow. During that trip, Tillerson said relations with Russia were at a low and needed to be rebuilt.

A Russian plan to stabilize Syria after more than six years of civil war was the most urgent foreign policy topic on the Trump-Lavrov agenda.

But their meeting will be impossible to separate from the Trump administration's unfolding political drama in Washington, where FBI and congressional investigations are looking into possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and the Kremlin related to the 2016 election.

U.S. intelligence agencies have asserted Moscow meddled in the election to help Trump's chances of victory.

Putin asked Trump to meet with Lavrov when the two leaders spoke by phone last week, according to a person with knowledge of the call. The person insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the private conversation.