Secretary of State John Kerry has canceled a planned trip to Moscow next week to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
reports ABC News.
Kerry was scheduled to travel to Russia on Wednesday and Thursday before the Munich Security Conference. The visit would have been the secretary of state's first since the start of the crisis in Ukraine,
reports Russia Behind The News, which confirmed the meeting had been canceled.
"We are not preparing for the visit of John Kerry next week," a U.S. embassy source told RIA Novosti,
according to Sputniknews.
Kerry's decision was not completely unexpected considering tensions have increased in U.S.-Russian relations in the last week.
In recent weeks, Russia-backed separatists have increased attacks along Ukraine's border, which have resulted in numerous deaths and drew direct condemnation from Kerry on Thursday after a rocket attack on the Ukrainian town of Mariupol.
"I join my European counterparts in condemning in the strongest terms today's horrific assault by Russia-backed separatists on civilian neighborhoods,"
Kerry said, according to Fox News.
Also heightening tensions was news that the FBI had filed charges against three Russians who allegedly conspired to carry out espionage and to violate U.S. law by failing to register as foreign agents,
according to a complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday.
Two individuals involved in the spy ring, which was run out of Manhattan and the Bronx, eluded arrest by leaving the country, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan,
according to CNN.
According to the ABC News report, Kerry will attend next week's Munich Conference, where he could meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and would certainly discuss recent attacks by Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, as well as the possibility of increased sanctions.
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