Not long before Trump spoke in Washington, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson struck a similar tone after an nearly two-hour meeting with Putin, saying the two countries had reached a "low point" in relations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday: "We can not and will not support attempts to pass without proof a UN Security Council resolution condemning the government 'on the quiet, ' without any inspections".
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said an alleged poison gas attack blamed on his government last week in Idlib province was "100 percent fabrication" used to justify a USA air strike, news agency AFP reported on Thursday. He said the two sides would also discuss disagreements on Syria and how to end the country's six-year civil war.
Does this mean that the Trump administration intends to engage Syria (and Russia) militarily in contexts other than responding to the use of chemical weapons?
While the U.S. has put responsibility for the attack that killed more than 80 people squarely with Assad, Russia believes it was the work of terrorists, with Putin claiming more chemical attacks are on the way in Syria created to frame the Assad regime.
The latest veto on Thursday (local time) saw Russian Federation block a draft resolution backed by the United States, France and Britain to denounce the attack, and require Assad's government to provide access for investigators and information, such as flight plans.
USA officials said that the missile strike was made against the facility from which the chemical attacks were carried out, as quoted by an earlier article by CNN.
"We may be at an all-time low in terms of our relationship with Russian Federation", he said.
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Mr Tillerson also called for Assad to eventually relinquish power.
Beyond Syria, Russia's alleged meddling in the US presidential election also hovered over what was the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and any Trump administration Cabinet member.
Minutes before, Lavrov said it was important not to allow a repeat of United States strikes in Syria which were unlawful.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader on Wednesday gave Tillerson his view of the causes of the current "deadlock" in bilateral ties. Secretary Tillerson told President Putin peace can not happen in Syria while Assad is still in power. The U.S.is not a serious military player there.
"Every administration tries to improve relations, but there is a very basic fundamental fact: Across the geopolitical chessboard the USA and Russian Federation have fundamentally very different interests", said Harry Kazianis, a senior fellow for defense policy at the Center for the National Interest, a Washington think tank advocating "realistic" foreign policy.
Haley's statement was the first clear indication that the new U.S. administration was taking diplomatic efforts seriously to end the war after repeatedly stating that fighting the Islamic State was its priority in Syria.
"We discussed our view that Russian Federation, as their closest ally in the conflict, perhaps has the best means of helping Assad recognise this reality".
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