MOSCOW: Fiercely feuding over Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin met the top American diplomat in Moscow on Wednesday to see if they could rescue relations between the world's mightiest military powers.
Russia’s alleged meddling in the US presidential election also hovered over the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and a Trump administration Cabinet member.
Leaving traveling US reporters across town, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Putin in the Kremlin for almost two hours following fraught discussions with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The chief dispute concerned the chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed more than 80 people last week, though broader disagreements over everything from Ukraine to Russia's support for once-fringe candidates in European elections are among other sore points between the former Cold War foes.
The meeting between Putin and Tillerson wasn't formally confirmed until the last minute, following days of speculation about whether the Russian would refuse to grant the former oil executive an audience.
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Putin's decision to host Tillerson signaled Moscow's intent to maintain communication with the US even as they bash each other publicly in louder and louder tones.
UPDATES
Here's the latest on Tillerson's visit to Moscow (all times local, Dubai is 1 hour ahead of Moscow):
10.42pm: In the United Nations headquarters in New York, Russia vetoed a UN resolution condemning the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria and urging a speedy investigation.
8.55pm: Tillerson says US and Russia have agreed to establish working group to address smaller issues and make progress towards stabilising relationship. He is is at the Kremlin with his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the US State Department and Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed.
8.52pm: US secretary of State Rex Tillerson says current state of US-Russia relations are at low point, with low level of trust. US-Russia talksin Moscow come after Lavrov issued Tillerson a warning Wednesday against any further US strikes on the Syrian regime. Russia is Syria's most powerful ally.
8.48pm: Russia’s Lavrov says discussed Ukraine crisis with Tillerson, agree that Minsk Peace accords only way forward. The two top diplomats sat down together 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.
6:30 pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the Kremlin in Moscow. The meeting Wednesday, announced by Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, comes hours after Tillerson faced his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in a tense encounter.
Russia’s top diplomat accused the United States of carrying out an unlawful attack against Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces. Giving Tillerson a chilly reception, Lavrov said Russia was trying to understand the “real intentions” of the Trump administration.
12:38 pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin says relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in the early months of Donald Trump's presidency. “It can be said that the level of trust at the working level, especially at the military level, has not become better but most likely has degraded," Putin said in an interview broadcast Wednesday by state television channel Mir.
Putin also asserted that Syria has complied with an agreement to dispose of chemical weapons "so far as we know." He reiterated previous Russian assertions that the chemical weapons attack last week that prompted a US Tomahawk missile barrage on a Syrian air base was either a rebel provocation or caused by Syrian warplanes hitting a rebel chemical weapons facility.
The interview was broadcast as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held his first meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
12:30 pm: The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Putin may still meet visiting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson, who arrived on Tuesday on his first visit to Russia since he was named to lead the U.S. State Department, is meeting for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that "if it is decided" that the Russian president needs to be briefed on the outcome of the Tillerson-Lavrov talks, he will meet them.
The Kremlin previously refused to say whether Putin would meet with Tillerson in Moscow.
11:50 am: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says he aims to clear up "sharp differences" with Russia as he opens a tense meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Tillerson and Lavrov are meeting in Moscow amid rising tensions over Syria.
Lavrov says Russia has lots of questions about the "very ambiguous" and "contradictory" ideas coming from the U.S. He says through a translator that it's important for Russia to understand the "real intentions" of the Trump administration.
Tillerson says he wants to understand why US-Russia differences exist. He says both countries have agreed that their lines of communications must stay open.
Lavrov is also subtly mocking Tillerson for the fact that top U.S. State Department positions are unfilled. He says that makes it hard to have clarity about US positions.
10:45 am: President Donald Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin is backing an "evil person" in Syria. Trump says Syrian President Bashar Assad is "an animal." He tells Fox Business Network that Putin's support for Assad is "very bad for Russia." Trump says it's also "very bad for mankind."
Trump is increasing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to abandon Assad just as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting Moscow. Tillerson has a meeting set later Wednesday in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It's unclear whether Putin will grant Tillerson a meeting.
The meeting comes as early expectations of an easy rapport between the Trump administration and Russia are crashing into reality. Washington and Moscow are trading sharp accusations about a chemical weapons attack last week in Syria.
