Moscow (CNN) Russia's top diplomat has said the timing of his recent White House meeting with President Donald Trump was a "coincidence."

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, spoke about the meeting in an interview on state media, saying it was organized a month before his trip to Washington. Trump and Lavrov met on the same day Democrats in Congress unveiled articles of impeachment against the President.

"I believe that it was a coincidence that our meeting was held on the day when the House Committee launched the impeachment procedure," Lavrov said in an interview that first aired on Russia's Channel One on Sunday.

"...it is a tradition of Russian-US relations that when the chief diplomat visits the capital city of the partner he is received by the head of state. It is a long-standing tradition."

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