U.S. President Barack Obama is sending his top advisor to Moscow for talks with senior Russian officials about bilateral ties and a range of other key issues.

U.S. President Barack Obama is sending his top advisor to Moscow for talks with senior Russian officials about bilateral ties and a range of other key issues, the White House said on Friday.

In his visit slated for Sunday and Monday, National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon will "review next steps in our bilateral relationship" as well as "a range of key foreign policy, security and economic issues on our international agenda," Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in a statement.

She said the visit offers "important opportunity" for bilateral consultations ahead of Obama's meetings with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later this year.

U.S.-Russian relations have soured since Putin returned to the presidency in May 2012, and the two countries have, in particular, clashed over approaches to the conflict in Syria.