BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The United States purportedly rejected the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) offer to move its meeting dates to accommodate US State Secretary Rex Tillerson's schedule, a diplomatic source close to NATO in Brussels told Sputnik on Tuesday.
Tillerson, according to anonymous US officials cited in Monday's media reports, will skip the April 5-6 meeting among the NATO foreign ministers. He is said to stay in the US to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping on April 6-7 alongside President Donald Trump.
"The information circulates that NATO offered to move the dates of the ministerial meeting so that Tillerson could arrive in Brussels, but it was rejected in Washington," the source said.
A State Department spokesperson told Sputnik early Tuesday that Tillerson's itinerary for April included a visit to Italy for the G7 meeting, followed by a visit to Russia.
The spokesperson said Undersecretary Tom Shannon would represent the US at the NATO meeting in Brussels.
