The interview was broadcast as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held his first meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Russian Federation must choose between aligning itself with the U.S. and likeminded countries or embracing Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and the militant group Hezbollah. "Now, we are not saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change".
The two top diplomats had sat down together earlier in the day to work through the fallout of last week's chemical attack in northwestern Syria, which plunged the old Cold War enemies to a new low.
U.S. officials said the strike against the Shayrat airbase hit aircraft, fuel storage, weapons dumps and other equipment, and was aimed at sending a message to the Syrian regime that the use of chemical weapons would not be tolerated.
The United States has sought to downplay expectations for the trip or the likelihood that the USA will leave with any concessions from Russian Federation regarding its support for Assad. Lavrov said U.S. allegations that Syria carried out the chemical attack "do not correspond to reality".
Putin has traditionally met with the US Secretary of State on their visits to Moscow. On the same day, Tillerson said on a trip to Turkey that the "longer-term status of Assad would be decided by the Syrian people".
The two ministers are scheduled to meet in Moscow on Wednesday for talks.
The US has said the Pentagon is looking for any evidence the Russian government knew about or was complicit in the chemical attack.
Tillerson said Tuesday that Russian Federation must choose between aligning itself with the US or with Assad and Iran. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made comparisons between the USA response and its 2003 intervention in Iraq, calling it a "tedious" story.
Lavrov also complained about the mixed messages coming out of Washington on the Trump administration's policy on Syria, with the United States envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, making clear Assad should have no future in Syria as Tillerson took a softer line.
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"They have a choice".
Tillerson took a more diplomatic tone in his opening remarks, saying that he hoped to clarify "areas of common objectives, areas of common interests, even when our tactical approaches may be different".
"I think that if you look at the countries that are with us, it speaks pretty loudly the number of countries that have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with this president", the White House spokesman said Monday.
As he laid a wreath at the site, Tillerson alluded to the chemical attack in Syria last week that triggered retaliatory US airstrikes.
In her interview with CNN, Haley came down hard on Russian Federation, reminding viewers that Moscow had said it would ensure chemical weapons would not be used in Syria. USA warships fired 59 cruise missiles at the Syrian air base from which the US believes the attack was launched. Secondly, we don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there.
The United States on Friday carry out an airstrike on the Shayrat air base which is believed to have been used for last week's chemical weapons attack in the Idlib province. As the Federal Bureau of Investigation and multiple congressional committees investigate potential collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign in last year's US election, Trump can point to his hard-line stance as fresh evidence that he's far from beholden to the Russian leader.
A key focus since the chemical attack has been on increasing pressure on Russia, Assad's strongest ally, which has used its own military to prop up Assad in Syria. Aides later clarified that this "did not signal a change in administration policy". He was referring to widespread vacancies throughout the top State Department leadership that has fueled a perception in the USA that Tillerson and his agency are being sidelined by Trump.
Mattis said that if Syria were to use chemical weapons again it would "pay a very, very stiff price".
"We were trying to degrade their capability to launch aircraft and to load them up with chemical weapons".
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