US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for crucial talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday amid tensions with Moscow over Ukraine, both sides said.

Putin has refused to budge on Ukraine but has signaled his readiness to mend ties with Washington and Brussels.

The US State Department said Kerry would meet with Putin, who is spending the week at his summer residence in ­Sochi. It will be Kerry's first visit to Russia in two years.

"US Secretary of State John Kerry will pay a working visit to Russia on May 12," said the Russian foreign ministry, ­adding that Kerry will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei ­Lavrov in Sochi.

"We expect that Secretary of State Kerry's visit to Russia will serve the normalization of ­bilateral ties on which global stability depends to a large ­extent," the statement said.

Separately, the state RIA Novosti news agency, ­quoting a diplomatic source, said ­Kerry and his Russian ­counterpart Sergei Lavrov were set to ­discuss the Ukraine crisis as well as Syria, Iran and Yemen.

"Kerry's visit to Russia is very symbolic," the diplomatic source was quoted as saying.

"He cancelled his visit many times and finally decided to come. This will not be a breakthrough meeting but it is very important."

The source added that the US diplomat's Sochi visit was a sign that Russia was open to cooperation.

"We never clam up, we are open and are ready to discuss everything," the source said.

Last year's popular ­uprising in Ukraine that ousted ­former president Viktor Yanukovych sparked a diplomatic crisis.

Kiev and the West ­accuse ­Putin's Kremlin of ­masterminding the brutal ­conflict that has killed more than 6,100 people in just over a year in East Ukraine, and have slapped several rounds of sanctions against Russia.

A source told the ­Interfax news agency that Russia ­expected Washington to play a more high-profile role in ­resolving the Ukraine crisis.

"It's important that the ­United States begin to play a more ­constructive role in the ­Ukrainian settlement, that they force Kiev to enter into a ­direct dialogue with the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic," the source said.

Despite a truce brokered by the West and Putin in February, Kiev and the insurgents accuse each of violating the cease-fire deal.