MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia expects that an international agreement to defuse the Ukraine crisis will be implemented in practical steps, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union signed the deal in Geneva last week in a bid to resolve the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War but each side has since accused the other of failing to carry it out.

"Russia expects that the Geneva accords will be implemented in practical actions in the near future," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying.

(Reporting by Nigel Stephenson)