UK postpones Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s Russia trip

LONDON – Britain says a planned trip to Russia by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson this week has been postponed.

The Foreign Office says the trip is being put off because a NATO foreign ministers meeting is being rescheduled.

The NATO meeting had been scheduled for April 5-6, but last week officials said it would be rescheduled so U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson can attend. The alliance says the meeting will now take place Friday.

Tillerson had said he would skip the semiannual meeting of the military alliance and would instead travel to a Group of 7 meeting in Italy and then to Russia.

The Foreign Office said Monday that Johnson has spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, “and looks forward to reinstating his visit as soon as possible.”