US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov spoke Thursday to discuss the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, officials said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov spoke Thursday to discuss the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, officials said.

"Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov spoke by phone today. They discussed the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine," according to a senior State Department official.

The two diplomats have a good relationship, despite sometimes frosty relations between their governments on several issues, including Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Lavrov said a new US sanctions law against Russia could undermine relations between Moscow and Washington for a long time.

The United States voted this week against a bid by Palestinians to win backing for a UN resolution on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement, a move Russia supported.

Kerry and Lavrov last met face-to-face on December 14 in Italy, where they spoke for more than three hours on a number of issues, discussing the situation in Ukraine and Syria.