In his meeting with Lavrov, Tilleron plans to "discuss efforts to de-escalate violence, provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and set the stage for a political settlement of the conflict", the State Department said in a statement.

The meeting comes a month after Tillerson traveled to Moscow to talk with Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and just a week after Trump and Putin spoke on the phone - their first contact since the US bombed a Syrian airfield in April.

Program Director of the Valdai International Discussion Club's foundation Dmitry Suslov told TASS that a notable intensification of contacts between Russia and the United States recently demonstrates an intention of the parties to solve the task of "establishing at least a limited Russian-U.S. cooperation and reaching a certain improvement of relations, or, at least, laying the groundwork for preventing any further worsening". Last month, he and Lavrov held tense talks in Moscow in which both publicly acknowledged the sour state of relations. Asked whether Lavrov's visit boded well for improving ties, Tillerson said Monday: "We shall see".

According to the statement, Lavrov will also take part in the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in Fairbanks, the second largest city in the Alaska State.