Summary John Kerry will stop off in Georgia and Ukraine on his way to this month's NATO summit.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry will stop off in Georgia and Ukraine, western-leaning Russian neighbors keen to join the Atlantic alliance, on his way to this month s NATO summit.
State Department spokesman John Kirby on Thursday told reporters that Kerry would fly to Tbilisi on July 6 to meet Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, President Giorgi Margvelashvili and opposition leaders.
He will express US support for Georgia s "Euro-Atlantic aspirations," Kirby said, in a nod to the former Soviet republic s ambitions to become a full member of NATO and perhaps eventually the European Union.
The next day, Kerry will fly on to Kiev, where he will meet President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to discuss progress towards implementing a settlement in breakaway eastern Ukraine.
Under the Minsk Accords, Russia is supposed to drop its support for separatist rebels in the Donbass region and observe a ceasefire in exchange for Ukraine implementing political reform and regional autonomy.
Washington has generally sided with Ukraine in the conflict, imposing sanctions on Russia after its March 2014 annexation of Crimea, but also wants Kiev to uphold its end of the Minsk bargain.
After talks in the two capitals, Kerry will fly on to the Polish capital Warsaw on July 8 and join President Barack Obama and other NATO leaders and ministers for the allies annual summit.
