Moscow - President Vladimir Putin is expected Tuesday to host US Secretary of State John Kerry for crucial talks in Sochi amid tensions over Ukraine, during the top US diplomat's first visit to Russia since the start of the crisis.
Ties between Moscow and Washington collapsed after Russia seized Crimea and buttressed separatists in eastern Ukraine but after a year of raging tensions signs are emerging that both Russia and the West may be ready to seek detente.
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 on Monday that Kerry would meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Putin, who is spending the week at his summer residence in Sochi.
"This trip is part of our ongoing effort to maintain direct lines of communication with senior Russian officials and to ensure US views are clearly conveyed," said spokeswoman Marie Harf.
It will be Kerry's first visit to Russia in two years.
"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 Russian foreign ministry said for its part.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov sounded coy however, refusing to immediately confirm Putin's meeting with Kerry.
Kerry's high-stakes visit comes as Russia appears to have put the worst of the fallout from the Ukraine crisis behind it, with the rouble rebounding somewhat and Putin enjoying popular support at home.
In a wide-ranging statement, the Russian foreign ministry said US companies wanted to do business in Russia despite Western sanctions and added that the political chill should not affect human ties.
"Even under pressure from the White House, American business is in no rush to leave our market," the foreign ministry said.
"Boeing, Ford, John Deere, Alcoa, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Mars, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other companies that have invested significant funds here would like to retain their position in Russia."
Putin himself used similar rhetoric when he called for an improvement in ties with Germany during Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Moscow on Sunday.
"Entrepreneurs are pragmatic people, that's why they are not leaving the Russian market," Putin said.
AFP
