Lavrov and Tillerson to hold meeting in Manila

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Manila on the margins of next weekend's meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia must reduce its staff by 755 people. Russia is also seizing two properties near Moscow used by American diplomats.

Tillerson said Putin probably believes his response was a symmetrical action to Washington seizing two Russian properties in the United States and expelling 35 diplomats last December.

"Of course it makes our lives more difficult," Reuters cited him as saying,