The agenda of the meeting has not been reported. The US State Department noted that the two ministers will address areas of bilateral concern and cooperation. They will also meet Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

US Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet in Helsinki (visithelsinki.fi)

Commentators have seen the Helsinki meeting a prelude to the planned talks between foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Rex Tillerson, later in September in New York. The announcement came after the US and Russia was in a diplomatic row for months about the mutual actions to reduce the size of the diplomatic missions of each other.