AS the US and Russia finalise plans for a summit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said President Donald Trump views Moscow’s return to the international fold as inevitable, and “trade-offs” could allow it to rejoin the Group of Seven club.

Pompeo’s comments come as a foreign affairs adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow and Washington reached an agreement on a date and location for a summit of Putin and Trump.

Trump told reporters at the White House he would probably meet with Putin during a July trip to Europe. He mentioned Helsinki, Finland, and Vienna, Austria, as possible venues, but is supposed to formally announce details later tomorrow.

In his remarks, Pompeo said he could imagine a series of “trade-offs” with Russia to allow its return to the G7.

He would not elaborate but stressed the US position remains that Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, a move that led to its suspension from the G7.

He said he believes Russia could rejoin the group of industrialised democracies without giving Crimea back to Ukraine.

“The president deeply believes that having Russia be part of these important geo-strategic conversations is inevitable,” Pompeo told the committee in response to questions about Trump’s comments that Russia should be included in G7 discussions.

“There is a long history of that.” Pompeo added that current relations with Russia are about as bad as they have been in his lifetime and repeated assertions that the Trump administration has been tougher on Russia than many previous ones. That said, he added that Trump is convinced improving those ties is necessary.

“The president is looking forward to an opportunity to find those handful of places where we can have productive conversations that lead to improvements for each of our two countries,” he said.

Presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov made the summit announcement overnight after a meeting in Moscow between Mr Putin and US National Security Adviser John Bolton.

The time, venue and other details of the summit will be announced jointly by the Kremlin and the White House on Thursday, Mr Ushakov said.

He said the summit would take place in a third country, but did not name it as part of the plan for a joint declaration with Washington.

Austria previously offered to host the summit in Vienna. Some media reports have mentioned Finland’s capital, Helsinki, as a possible venue.

The summit will include one-on-one talks between the presidents and conclude with a joint news conference, Mr Ushakov said. He said Mr Trump and Mr Putin are expected to issue a joint statement.

Mr Ushakov said the Kremlin was satisfied with the talks with Mr Bolton, describing them as “constructive and businesslike.”

The discussions touched on the state of bilateral ties, nuclear arms control, the situation in Syria, the Ukrainian crisis, developments around North Korea and the US exit from the Iranian nuclear deal — topics Mr Ushakov said would shape the summit agenda.

He said the issue of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election was raised during the talks, and reaffirmed the Kremlin denial of any interference with the vote.

Mr Ushakov said US sanctions on Russia were not discussed.

Mr Ushakov wouldn’t comment on what Russia expects from the summit, but voiced hope it would give a “strong impulse” to normalise US-Russia and would be “this summer’s most important international event.”