Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday he could no longer accept the role of the United States as a mediator in talks with Israel because of Washington's behaviour, the Interfax news agency reported.

"We state that from now on we refuse to cooperate in any form with the U.S. in its status of a mediator, as we stand against its actions," Abbas told Putin at the start of talks in Moscow.

Abbas was quoted as saying he wanted an expanded new mediation mechanism to replace the Middle East Quartet.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the start of talks with Palestinian leader that he had discussed the Middle East conflict with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

"I just spoke with American President Trump," Putin told Abbas before continuing the talks behind closed doors. "Obviously we spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

The Palestinian leader was visiting Moscow in a bid to secure Putin's support after Trump outraged the Palestinians and their allies by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The "situation is far from what we want to see," Putin said, adding that he has "always supported the Palestinian people".

Abbas has refused any contact with Trump's administration since Washington's decision at the end of last year.

Abbas's meeting with Putin came two weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited Moscow.

Palestinians see the US Jerusalem decision, which broke with years of international diplomacy, as a denial of their claim to East Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual Palestinian state.

Palestinian statehood is recognised by more than 130 countries.