U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Meets Russian President Putin For Talks On Ukraine And Syria

US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) shakes hands with Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) next to US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft at the presidential residence Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi on May 12, 2015. Joshua Roberts, AFP/Getty Images

Reuters: Kerry has "frank" talks with Putin about Ukraine, Syria

* U.S.-Russian relations at low ebb over Ukraine crisis
* Kerry says important to keep lines of communication open
* Kerry, Lavrov hold more than four hours of talks (Recasts with Kerry tweets, gifts)

SOCHI, Russia, May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had "frank" talks about Ukraine, Syria and Iran with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and said it was important to keep in contact.

With the United States and Russia on opposite sides of the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, Kerry's trip appeared designed as much to maintain contact as anything else with U.S.-Russian relations at their lowest ebb since the Cold War.

Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for more than four hours before he sat down with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in what was the highest-level U.S. visit to Russia since the Ukraine crisis began in the autumn of 2013.

WNU Editor: I will be updating this story later today.

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