Top U.S., Russian diplomats to meet in Washington on Ukraine, Syria

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine, Syria, and bilateral issues, the U.S. State Department said Monday.

On Ukraine, the top diplomats will discuss the need to stop violence in eastern Ukraine and resolve the conflict through the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, the State Department said in a statement.

On Syria, Tillerson intends to discuss with Lavrov efforts to de-escalate violence, provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and set the stage for a political settlement of the conflict.

The high-level meeting will come amid tensions between the U.S. and Russia, as the two countries hold differences on a slew of issues including the Syrian conflict, the Ukrainian crisis and the expansion of NATO.

Tillerson said last week that Washington and Moscow have "almost no trust" between each other at the moment and that their relationship has stayed at the lowest level since the Cold War.

"We need to stabilize the relations that are spiraling down," said Tillerson, adding that the two sides are working to see if trust could be rebuilt by dealing with one issue at a time. Endi