FILE PHOTO: U.S. new ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman walks after presenting diplomatic credentials to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia October 3, 2017. REUTERS/Pavel Golovkin/Pool

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has been forced to cancel a planned trip to Russia’s Far East next week because senior regional officials could not find time to meet him, the U.S. Embassy to Russia said in a statement on Friday.

The United States has a consulate in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East and the embassy said his planned visit was part of a series of trips to places where the U.S. hoped to resume consular operations which were suspended earlier this year amid a diplomatic dispute.