Putin says Russia-US relations have ‘worsened’ under Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency.

“You can say that the level of trust on a working level, especially on the military side, has not improved but most likely worsened,” Putin said in a transcript posted by the Kremlin.

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 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held his first meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Opening the fraught meeting on Wednesday, Lavrov accused the US of carrying out an unlawful attack against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces last week.

Lavrov said Russia had lots of questions about the Trump administration’s “very ambiguous” and “contradictory” ideas. In an ominous start to their meeting, Lavrov said it was important for Moscow to understand the “real intentions” of the Trump administration.

“We have seen very alarming actions recently with an unlawful attack against Syria,” Lavrov said. “We consider it of utmost importance to prevent the risks of replay of similar action in the future.”

Tillerson, the first Trump cabinet official to visit Russia, conceded the US and Russia had “sharp differences” that have been obstructing cooperation between the two powers. He said he was seeking to “better understand” the differences so that they could be narrowed.

“We both have agreed our lines of communication shall always remain open,” Tillerson said.

The tense start to Tillerson’s visit illustrated the widening chasm between the former Cold War foes. Early expectations of an easy rapport between the Trump administration and Russia have crashed into reality as the two countries have traded escalating accusations over what happened last week in a chemical attack in Syria.

As their envoys gathered in Moscow, Trump joined Putin in voicing protests of his own.

“Frankly, Putin is backing a person that’s truly an evil person,” Trump told the Fox Business Network, referring to Assad. “I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind.”

Of Assad, Trump added: “This is an animal.”

It was unclear whether Putin, who once gave Tillerson an “Order of Friendship” award, would grant the visiting American an audience in Moscow. Though the Kremlin had declined to say whether the leaders would meet, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday: “There is a certain likelihood.”

Tillerson is on a thus-far-futile mission to persuade Putin to abandon support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. The fallout from Assad’s chemical attack last week and the US airstrikes that Trump ordered in response have plunged the United States and Russia into tensions rarely seen since the Cold War.

Before flying to Moscow, Tillerson issued an ultimatum to Putin: Either side with the US and like-minded countries, or with Assad, Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah. But Russia made clear it had no intention of acquiescing. Putin quickly invited the Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers to Moscow on Friday, the day after Tillerson departs.

“Our policy is consistent and it’s formulated exclusively on the basis of international law and not under the impact of current opportunistic motives or false choice: ‘You are with us or against us,'” Lavrov told Tillerson.

Adding further fuel to rising tensions: the White House’s move to circulate declassified US intelligence accusing Moscow of aiding Assad’s government in covering up last week’s gruesome nerve gas attack that killed more than 80 people. The US also accused Russia of mounting a disinformation campaign aimed at exonerating Assad from blame for the attack.

Russia has insisted it was Syrian rebels — Assad’s forces — that were responsible for the chemical weapons. Intelligence services from several Western countries dispute that claim. The health minister in Turkey, which treated many of the attack’s victims and conducted autopsies on others, said Tuesday that test results conducted on victims confirmed sarin gas was used.