They have said the attack which killed more than 80 people was either a rebel provocation or the result of Syrian planes hitting a rebel weapons factory. He likened the US response in bombing a Syrian air base to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that now just as then Washington relied on false data about chemical weapons.
Russian Federation has criticized previous investigations carried out by the OPCW and the United Nations which blamed the Syrian government for at least three chemical weapons attacks without visiting the sites.
U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson has been having talks with Vladimir Putin amid tensions after an American airstrike against the Syrian regime.
Putin has publicly raised doubts about whether Assad was responsible for the strike, which killed dozens, and even suggested the US might fake a subsequent gas attack and blame it on the Syrian leader.
The former South Carolina Governor also weighed in on comments by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who used Adolf HItler in a criticised analogy to describe the heinousness of Assad's actions.
Russian Federation and Iran are providing military support for Assad.
Russia's meddling in last year's United States presidential election has been "fairly well-established", Rex Tillerson has said, following talks with his counterpart in Moscow.
Giving Tillerson a chilly reception, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia was trying to understand the "real intentions" of the Trump administration.
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.
"The working level of confidence in Russian-American relations, especially at the military level, under the administration of Donald Trump, has not improved, but rather worsened".
On Thursday, the United States fired cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that Washington says was used to launch the chemical attack.
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What if Luke is planning to introduce a more balanced approach to the Force that incorporates both the light side and the dark. And when Carrie came in, she was that character. "She said: "[Rose is] part of the resistance, she works in maintenance.
Earlier, Tillerson met with Lavrov for bilateral talks. As the Federal Bureau of Investigation and multiple congressional committees investigate potential collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign in last year's USA election, Trump can point to his hard-line stance as fresh evidence that he's far from beholden to the Russian leader.
Putin, whom US intelligence agencies say tried to help Trump get elected, insisted that relations with the USA had only gone downhill since Trump took office in January.
Kremlin officials were the first to confirm to the media that Tillerson was meeting with the Russian president.
Lavrov greeted Tillerson with unusually icy remarks, denouncing the missile strike on Syria as illegal and accusing Washington of behaving unpredictably.
"I think aligning yourself with Assad is a big mistake because he's a butcher, and I think it's very bad for Russia", Trump said, addressing Putin.
He said his forces were not obstructed by the US strike.
Sergei Lavrov and Rex Tillerson in Moscow, April 12. Mr Trump said it was "certainly possible" though "probably unlikely".
I've never seen anything like it and frankly, Putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person. He also said Putin opened the door to restoring a military "deconfliction" hotline between the two countries. "No", Trump told Fox Business News in an interview that aired Wednesday. "But I do think it's going to happen at a certain point", Trump said.
Tillerson, visiting Moscow on Wednesday, addressed the issue of the chemical weapons attack but he stopped short of calling it a war crime. It's unclear whether Putin will grant Tillerson a meeting.
The Trump administration says it is spending a disproportionate share on defense compared with its 27 partners, and that it expects action by the time Trump meets with other alliance leaders on May 25.
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