Kremlin Says US Secretary Kerry Not to Visit Moscow After Kiev

Kremlin aide said that Kerry had voiced his desire to come to Moscow after visiting Kiev, however, "his trip won’t happen because of one or another reason."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is currently in Kiev, will not visit Moscow, Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will arrive later on Thursday to Kiev to present a new plan for settling the crisis in Ukraine and will continue to Moscow on Friday.

“Kerry’s not coming to Moscow,” Ushakov said.

Ushakov added that Kerry had voiced his desire to come to Moscow and that the Kremlin supported the idea.

“But his trip won’t happen because of one or another reason,” Ushakov said.

Kerry’s visit to Kiev comes amid reports that Washington is considering supplying lethal aid to Kiev, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, arms and ammunition.

Violence in eastern Ukraine surged in January. Shelling attacks in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions over the past few weeks have resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians, in what the United Nations described as the worst violence the region has seen since a shaky truce was signed in Minsk last September.

On January 31, the participants of the contact group on the Ukraine crisis – OSCE representatives, Kiev, Moscow, and the Donbas region – met in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The meeting did not result in any agreement.