Russia vetoes UN resolution on Syria chemical attack

Earlier on Wednesday Tillerson had a similar tone after an nearly two-hour meeting with Putin, saying the two countries had reached a "low point" in relations.

"Boris Johnson did an excellent job in bringing together the G7, bringing together worldwide opinion and enabling [US secretary of state] Rex Tillerson from the United States to go to Moscow with a very clear message - a consensus from the global community", she said.

Details of the meeting were not released.

"I expressed the view that the current state of US-Russian relations is at a low point", Tillerson said.

Mr Tillerson said there was "a low level of trust" between both countries and such a relationship could not be allowed to continue between the world's foremost nuclear powers.

After two hours of talks with Mr Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, he said that the "two foremost nuclear powers can not have this relationship".

Lavrov repeated the Kremlin's condemnation of the USA missile strike in Syria and said Washington was seeking "excuses for regime change".

As tensions between the US and Russian Federation appear to be nearing "cold war" levels over the situation in Syria.

During a heated Security Council exchange before Wednesday's vote, Russia's deputy United Nations envoy Vladimir Safronkov told the 15-member body that Western countries were wrong to blame Assad for the gas attack.

Lavrov said the probe, which Russian Federation has called for before, should be organized under the auspices of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

In the latest veto, Russian Federation blocked a draft resolution backed by the United States, France and Britain to denounce the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun and tell Assad's government to provide access for investigators and information such as flight plans.

Trump repeated his call for other member states to contribute more funding to the alliance, saying European states "must pay what they owe".

"This is just the latest in a series of the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime", Tillerson said of the April 4 attak". "Were they dead at all". "That's exactly what is happening now..." "We want to see all the ethnic groups in the country to feel protected, justly represented in all the branches of government".

In Paris, French President Francois Hollande said: "Russia bears a heavy responsibility" by systematically opposing multilateral action to protect its Syrian ally Assad. "I think he had a very successful meeting in Russia", Trump said.

"Frankly, Putin is backing a person that is truly an evil person", Trump said.