Kerry to meet Russia's Putin, Lavrov for Syria talks in Moscow


PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Syria and Ukraine, U.S. officials said on Friday.

Kerry will also attend talks on the Syria crisis in Paris on Monday, the State Department said in a statement.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the top agenda item for Kerry in Moscow will be Russia's failure to implement the Minsk ceasefire agreement. He said Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine "is destabilising that country and is undermining their territorial integrity."

Kerry will also discuss the fight against Islamic State with Putin, Earnest said, and repeat the U.S. view that "Russia should focus their efforts on ISIL and seek to integrate their efforts into the broader international coalition that's led by the United States to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL."

Islamic State is also known by the acronyms ISIL and ISIS.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Jack Stubbs; editing by Maria Kiselyova and Tom Brown)

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