US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pauses during a joint press conference following meetings with the Icelandic Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Blinken is touting the Biden administration's abrupt shift in its predecessor's climate policies as he visits Iceland for talks with senior officials from the world's Arctic nations.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia's longtime Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plan to talk Wednesday on the sidelines of an Arctic Council meeting in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.

Even before their first face-to-face encounter — ostensibly to prepare for a summit between President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin next month — the two diplomats laid down near diametrically opposed positions for the meeting, previewing what is likely to be a difficult and contentious exchange.

This follows a spate of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions as U.S.-Russian relations threaten a return to Cold War lows. The nuclear powers are at odds on myriad issues including Ukraine, the Arctic, Russia's treatment of opposition figure Alexey Navalny and accusations of cybermalfeasance, including claims that Russia-based hackers were responsible for a ransomware attack on a key U.S. pipeline. “It would be our preference to have a more stable and more predictable relationship with Russia,” Blinken said on Tuesday.

“At the same time, we've been very clear that if Russia chooses to take reckless or aggressive actions that target our interests or those of our allies and partners, we'll respond. Not for purposes of seeking conflict or escalating but because such challenges cannot be allowed to go forward with impunity.”