US Secretary of State John Kerry to meet Putin in Sochi May 12

US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for crucial talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 12 amid tensions with Moscow over Ukraine, both sides said.

President Vladimir Putin has refused to budge on Ukraine but has signalled his readiness to mend ties with Washington and Brussels as Russia chafes under the burden of biting Western sanctions.
 
The US State Department said Kerry would meet with Putin, who is spending the week at his summer residence in Sochi.
 
It will be Kerry's first visit to Russia in two years.
 
"US Secretary of State John Kerry will pay a working visit to Russia on May 12," said the Russian foreign ministry, adding that Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Sochi.
 
"We expect that Secretary of State Kerry's visit to Russia will serve the normalisation of bilateral ties on which global stability depends to a large extent," the statement said.
 
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined immediate comment.
 
Separately, the state RIA Novosti news agency, quoting a diplomatic source, said Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were set to discuss the Ukraine crisis as well as Syria, Iran and Yemen.
 
"Kerry's visit to Russia is very symbolic," the diplomatic source was quoted as saying.    

"He cancelled his visit many times and finally decided to come. This will not be a breakthrough meeting but it is very important."  

The source added that the US diplomat's Sochi visit was a sign that Russia was open to cooperation.
 
"We never clam up, we are open and are ready to discuss everything," the source said.
 
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