WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, stressed that investigators must get full access to the site of the Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine, the State Department said.

Kerry told Lavrov the United States is "very concerned" over reports that the remains of victims and debris from the site of Thursday's crash have been removed or tampered with, the department said in a statement.

Kerry said Washington was also concerned over denial of"proper access" to the crash site in eastern Ukraine for monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and international investigators, the statement said.