Russia blocks U.N. Security Council condemnation of Syria attack

And Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who was at this joint news conference, did his part to appeal to the Trump administration by blaming everything on the Obama administration, constantly saying that's why we're at this point.

Tillerson has indicated he will be pressing Russian Federation on its alliance with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and whether it's a relationship that in the long term will serve Russia's interests.

Putin received Tillerson at the Kremlin along with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the top diplomats held several hours of talks dominated by the fallout of an alleged chemical attack in Syria. "And they have again brought this on themselves with their conduct of the war these past few years".

Lavrov protested that Russian Federation was the victim of "very slanderous attacks", and added: "I have to say once again.no one has shown us a single fact".

Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said Syria had sent dozens of letters to the Security Council, some detailing "the smuggling of sarin from Libya through Turkey on a civilian air plane by using a Syrian citizen". But he is not as upbeat about prospects for the kind of relations he promised as a candidate, leaving his assessment at: "We're going to see".

"We do think it's important that Assad's departure is done in an orderly way", he continued.

"We need to attempt to put an end to this steady degradation", Tillerson said. I have absolutely no doubt we did the right thing, and it was very, very successfully done.

Mr Putin, speaking on Mir television, also said trust had "deteriorated" between the USA and Russian Federation under the Trump presidency.

Tensions between the United States and Russian Federation will not "spiral out of control" following last week's USA cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday, describing it as a one-off response to Syria's use of banned chemical weapons.

Russian Federation called for an impartial investigation into the chemical weapon attack and said moving towards regime change in Syria would only destabilize the region.

Relations between the United States and Russian Federation have hit a low point and should be improved, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a trip to Moscow Wednesday.

United Nations investigators already have the mandate under previous resolutions to look into allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria but the West had pushed for council resolution to underscore its support for a thorough investigation in the Khan Sheikhun case. Perhaps eager to take a shot at the previous US administration, with whom Putin's government clashed badly, Lavrov said the new group would address "irritants which have dogged our relations over the last couple of years, particularly under the administration of President Obama". Safronkov reiterated Wednesday that an investigation can not be conducted remotely and experts must be drawn from a wide geographical basis.

Mr Tillerson said that he was keen to see Mr Assad removed. The world's two biggest nuclear powers are at odds over multiple issues, including Moscow's continued support for rebels in eastern Ukraine battling the Kyiv government, and the US intelligence community's declaration that computer hackers acting on orders from the Kremlin interfered in last year's USA presidential election.

But Lavrov said some progress had been made on Syria at the meeting and that a working group would be set up to examine the poor state of U.S. -Russia ties.

Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said the press conference highlighted the two diplomats' "differences in style, in position and in views of the world".

Russian Federation is "engaged in a very sophisticated propaganda and disinformation campaign to allow the Assad campaign to escape responsibility for these heinous acts", but it now has a "tremendous opportunity" to play a constructive role, a senior United States administration official, speaking not for attribution, told journalists April 12.