Tillerson Says Relations With Russia Have Reached a 'Low Point'

Relations between the United States and Russia have hit a low point and should be improved, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a trip to Moscow Wednesday. Tillerson spoke after meeting with Vladimir Putin, a meeting that occurred only after much uncertainty as to whether the Russian president would receive the secretary of state.

Tillerson's estimation comes after a week of sparring between the White House and the Kremlin over the chemical weapons attack carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Russia, a top Assad backer, says that the Syrian leader is being unfairly accused of executing the attack. The Trump administration concluded that Assad was behind the act, and on Thursday ordered a cruise missile strike against a Syrian airbase as a "proportional response."

"I expressed the view that the current state of U.S.-Russia relations is at a low point," Tillerson said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "There is a low level of trust between our two countries."

Putin himself said earlier Wednesday that trust between the two countries had worsened since Donald Trump took office.

"We need to attempt to put an end to this steady degradation," Tillerson said. "The world's two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship."