US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson will skip the NATO meeting to be in Russia, and the purpose of his visit is not yet known.
Tillerson meeting in Russia is taking place at a time the FBI said it is investigating the Trump campaign team and their activities during the 2016 campaign, with ties to Russia. According to the state department, Rex Tillerson will hold "meetings" in Russia after attending the group of seven talks in Italy in early April.
Tillerson is a well known Vladmir Putin friend, and has years of experience working with the Russian government.
The visit to Russia will also mean Tillerson will skip a NATO foreign ministers' summit, slated for April 5-6. The first meeting for Tillerson since he emerged as secretary of state.
The US president, Donald Trump has alleged that NATO has not been doing enough financially, and has once tagged the NATO as "obsolete"
It is a custom for the US secretary of state to attend the NATO's meeting, but the state department said Tom Shannon, an undersecretary of state would attend in Tillerson's absence.