John Kerry Holds Talks With Putin In Russia

US Secretary of State John Kerry has met Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on Ukraine, Syria and Iran.

America's top diplomat spoke with Mr Putin at his presidential residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday.

Mr Kerry earlier held more than four hours of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a hotel in the city.

It was the highest-level US visit to Russia since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.

US officials travelling with Mr Kerry said he planned to gauge Mr Putin's appetite to make pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine abide by an increasingly brittle truce.

Mr Kerry was also hoping to press Moscow to support a political transition that could end the Syrian civil war.

And the US diplomat wanted to convince Mr Putin that Russia should not equip Iran with an advanced air defence system.

Relations between the two countries have been at their lowest ebb since the Cold War, with both attacking each other over involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

A State Department official, speaking before the one-day talks, said: "It's important for us to keep these lines of communication open.

"It's important to try to talk to the senior decision-maker."

Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the meeting was a positive step.

He said: "Through dialogue, it is possible to find ways for a normalisation, closer co-ordination in dealing with international problems.

"Russia was never the initiator of this cooling of relations."

Moscow has accused the US of orchestrating the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian ally, last year.

Washington has accused Russia of failing to withdraw heavy equipment, including tanks and artillery, from eastern Ukraine in violation of a peace plan agreed in Minsk in February.

Economic sanctions have been imposed on Russia after it annexed the Crimea region in March.

Both countries have also disagreed over the civil war in Syria, with Russia backing President Bashar al Assad.

In a sign of the tensions between the two nations, the Kremlin initially failed to confirm whether Mr Putin would meet Mr Kerry.

The meeting was eventually confirmed on Tuesday morning.