Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, US State Secretary Tillerson Meet in Moscow

The U.S. says Syrian President Bashar Assad's government carried out the attack, and it accuses Russian Federation of trying to deflect blame from Assad.

"I will be frank that we have a lot of questions regarding very ambiguous as well as contradictory ideas regarding a whole plethora of bilateral and worldwide agenda coming from Washington", Lavrov said, according to Sputnik.

Russian Federation believes it "ultimately important to prevent any risks of any more of such actions in the future", Lavrov said referring to the recent U.S. strike on a Syrian base.

Subtly mocking his guest, Lavrov said their talks were especially important because "not all key positions in the State Department have been filled yet".

Former President Barack Obama and other world leaders have long insisted that Assad must first be removed from power before brokering peace in Syria, though Washington and Moscow have cooperated in peacekeeping efforts in the region.

"In general, primitiveness and loutishness are very characteristic of the current rhetoric coming out of Washington".

"As a whole, the administration's stance with regards to Syria remains a mystery. We'll hope that this doesn't become the substance of American policy", Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russia's state-owned RIA news agency.

Tillerson kept to more calibrated remarks, saying his aim was "to further clarify areas of sharp difference so that we can better understand why these differences exist and what the prospects for narrowing those differences may be".

Trump, meanwhile, told Fox Business News that the USA had no plans to become more deeply involved in Syria and only did so because of last week's deadly chemical weapons attack that killed dozens. "Russian relationship from this point forward", he told Lavrov.

Just what Tillerson will actually say to Lavrov is up in the air.

Asked about Putin possibly skipping a meeting with Tillerson, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, "There is a bit of irony that for all of these talks that have been perpetuated about back channels and direct links, that now it's they won't meet with you". Under President Barack Obama, the United States accused Russian Federation of supporting Assad in war crimes against civilians and of employing a sophisticated disinformation campaign to protect its ally. However, Trump's astounding reversal on Syria and the sudden chill with Putin comes as new information is emerging about ties his team had with Russian Federation during the campaign.

"I really think there is going to be a lot of pressure on Russian Federation to make sure that peace happens because frankly if Russian Federation hadn't have gone in and backed this animal you wouldn't have a problem right now", Mr Trump told Fox Business.

Speaking to reporters before he left Italy for Moscow, Tillerson said: "Russia has really aligned itself with the Assad regime, the Iranians, and Hezbollah". Judging by the complete disappearance of stories involving Trump being manipulated by Russian Federation over the past week, if indeed this was the strategy, it has succeeded.

Moscow has stood by Assad, saying the poison gas belonged to rebels, an explanation Washington dismisses as beyond credible.

He said he believed there were two main explanations for the incident in Idlib province: that Syrian government air strikes had hit rebel chemical weapons stocks, releasing poisonous gas, or that the incident was a set-up created to discredit the Syrian government.

Tillerson traveled to Moscow with a joint message from Western powers that Russian Federation should withdraw its support for Assad after a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized economies also attended by Middle East allies.

Overnight, in an interview with the Fox Business Network, Trump said he was not planning to order USA forces into Syria, but that he had to respond to the images of dead children poisoned in the gas attack.

"Are we going to get involved with Syria?" "But when I see people using terrible, awful chemical weapons ... and see these handsome kids that are dead in their father's arms, or you see kids gasping for life ... when you see that, I immediately called (Defense Secretary) General Mattis". Even if Moscow cooperates, the allegations of election meddling have weakened the USA leader's hand to deliver on any significant carrot, such as a loosening of the us and European economic sanctions stemming from Russia's actions in Ukraine.