US, Russia in war of words

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow on Wednesday as the two countries traded sharp accusations about a chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Though President Donald Trump has spoken with Putin by phone, the meeting was believed to be the first between Putin and a top member of Trump’s administration.

Putin received Tillerson at the Kremlin, reportedly after keeping him waiting for several hours, along with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the top diplomats held talks dominated by the fallout of the chemical attack.

Despite initial hopes in Moscow of better ties with the US under Trump, the two powers have descended into a furious war of words over the incident and a retaliatory US missile strike against the forces of Moscow’s ally Bashar al-assad.

Trump pulled no punches on Wednesday, telling Fox Business Network: “Frankly, Putin is backing a person that’s truly an evil person. I think it’s very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind.” Referring to Assad, Trump said: “This is an animal.”

And Putin, who US intelligence agencies say tried to help Trump get elected, insisted that relations with the US had only gone downhill since Trump took office in January.

“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.

Earlier Wednesday, Lavrov accused the US of carrying out an unlawful attack against Assad’s forces.

Giving Tillerson a chilly reception, Lavrov said Russia was trying to understand the “real intentions” of the Trump administration and has questions about contradictory and ambiguous ideas coming from Washington.