Exclusive:

UNITED NATIONS/VIENNA (Reuters) - United Nations chief Antonio Guterres is set to appoint a Moscow envoy in Vienna to head a newly created U.N. Office of Counterterrorism, officials and diplomats said on Wednesday, giving a Russian a top job at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Russia's Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna, Vladimir Voronkov, told Reuters he met with Guterres on Tuesday. An announcement on the appointment is expected this week, officials and diplomats said.

"Countering terrorism is one of the things that most countries can work with Russia on," said a senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We have very different views on what counts as a terrorist and what counts as an appropriate response to terrorism from Russia, but at least it's a discussion we can have more easily than we can have on political affairs or peacekeeping," the diplomat said.

Nationals from four of the five veto-wielding powers on the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France and China - have for the past decade held senior U.N. posts at the world body's headquarters in New York.