Kerry To Russia: Stop Denying That You're Meddling In East Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in a phone conversation on Sunday on the importance of ensuring a swift ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, a Foreign Ministry statement in Moscow said.

But the State Department said Kerry did not accept Lavrov's denial that heavy weapons from Russia were contributing to the conflict and urged him "to stop the flow of heavy weapons and rocket and artillery fire from Russia into Ukraine, and to begin to contribute to deescalating the conflict."

Washington and the West accuse Moscow of supporting rebels fighting Ukrainian troops in the east of the former Soviet republic with training, military-grade weapons, and shelling by Russian troops on Ukrainian positions across the border. On July 17, Russian-backed rebels shot down Malaysia Flight MH17, killing all 298 people on board.

Moscow denies involvement in east Ukraine. The Russian statement described the crisis is an "internal conflict."

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Editing by Lidia Kelly)