Kerry welcomes monitors' release in Ukraine, eyes larger OSCE role

KINSHASA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the release in Ukraine on Saturday of military monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) but said more steps were needed to de-escalate the crisis. Kerry said he spoke by phone with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and that both would discuss with Switzerland's president ways the OSCE might "play a larger role in perhaps facilitating the de-escalation". "We will both advance ideas about how to do that, without any promises of what those possibilities may produce. In the end, we reaffirmed our support for the OSCE," he told reporters, without elaborating, after landing in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a visit. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Louise Ireland)