SOCHI, Russia - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hopes to explore Russia's willingness to curb its involvement in Ukraine and its support for Syria's president at talks on Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin.

Kerry flew to the Black Sea resort of Sochi for the highest-level U.S. visit to Russia in two years, to discuss issues including the Iran nuclear talks, Yemen and Libya.

With relations between Russia and the United States at their lowest level since the Cold War, the trip appeared designed as much to maintain contact as anything else.

"It's important for us to keep these lines of communication open. It's important to try to talk to the senior decision-maker," said a senior U.S. State Department official who briefed reporters traveling with Kerry.

"We have a lot of business that we could do together if there is interest," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, welcomed the meeting as a positive step.

"Through dialogue, it is possible to find ways for a normalization, closer coordination in dealing with international problems," he Peskov reporters.

But he added: "Russia was never the initiator of this cooling of relations."

Kerry is also expected to meet Russian Foreign Minsiter Sergei Lavrov while in Sochi.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have sunk since Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in March of last year and backed pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.  (Reuters)