Tillerson Will Discuss Hacking During Meeting With Russians

Tuesday night, Tillerson will fly to Moscow, the first official visit by a Trump Cabinet official to Russia, Assad's strongest ally.

In Damascus, a Syrian official said foreign minister Walid al-Moallem will visit Russian Federation on Thursday where he will meet officials in Moscow.

White House officials say the US intelligence community is confident that Syrian President Bashar Assad attacked his own people with chemical weapons on April 4 - and that an alternative explanation offered by Russian Federation is an effort to deflect blame and "confuse the world community".

Tillerson would "deliver that clear and coordinated message to the Russians", he said.

But Putin said in an interview with state-run MIR television station that relations had only deteriorated.

The parallels haven't gone unnoticed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as USA officials have accused his military of knowing about Assad's recent chemical weapons attack ahead of time and trying to help cover it up.

United Nations investigators already have the mandate under previous resolutions to look into allegations of chemical weapons use but the council wants to underscore its support for a thorough investigation in the Khan Sheikhun case. Putin asked. "There isn't any".

Moscow reiterated on Wednesday that it believed the United States strike on Shayrat to be illegal under worldwide law. "That is an obvious fact".

Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said he told Tillerson that Tokyo supports Washington in its push to "deter the spread and use of chemical weapons", and discussed the pressing North Korean nuclear threat.

The Trump administration's growing willingness to confront Russian Federation directly is serving another objective: defanging the perception of coziness between Trump and Moscow.

According to the survey conducted by CBS News, fifty-seven percent of the respondents indicated their approval of the attacks ordered by the Trump administration as a reaction to the nerve gas attack by Syria's al-Assad regime. "We consider it of utmost importance to prevent the risks of replay of similar action in the future".

The G7, which groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, has vowed to send a "clear and coordinated message" to Moscow through Tillerson, who will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"Nothing has changed in our posture", he said by email.

With tensions boiling, the newly-minted Secretary - who had never served in government or practiced worldwide diplomacy prior to his confirmation - must avoid further escalating conflict with the Russian diplomat while still advocating for the U.S.'s agenda, experts said. The two officials were not scheduled to meet, but Putin's spokesman said it was possible they would.

The Trump administration is hoping that after defeating the Islamic State group in Syria, it can restore stability by securing local cease-fires between Assad's government and opposition groups that allow local leaders who have fled to return and by restoring basic services.

"We have drafted that resolution deliberately with consensus in mind", British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. US officials say the chemical weapons were stored there. "I think it's very bad for mankind".

But UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will lead a push on Monday for Russian Federation to face tough new sanctions unless it withdraws its support for Assad.

G7 ministers meeting Tuesday in the Italian city of Lucca failed to agree on targeted sanctions against the Russian and Syrian military, arguing that an investigation would first have to confirm who in Syria used chemical weapons. He can order more military action, with the danger of an escalating America involvement in a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

"We agreed that the role of China is extremely important".