Amid doubts and recriminations, Putin meets with Tillerson

Ending waves of uncertainty, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the Kremlin Wednesday, despite deteriorated relations between their countries.

Tillerson was on a day-long mission to Moscow, the first Trump administration official to go to Russia, to press for an end of Russian support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

But his chances looked bleak. Tillerson acknowledged “sharp” differences between Moscow and Washington as he headed into a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov, in turn, publicly scolded Tillerson for what he called the “illegitimate” attack that the U.S. launched against a Syrian airfield in retaliation for last week’s chemical bombardment of civilians in northwestern Syria, which U.S. officials blame on Assad and accuse Russia of allowing through “incompetence or complicity.”

It was left up in the air whether Putin would actually receive Tillerson. It is customary for U.S. secretaries of State to see Putin when the arrive in Moscow. But the Kremlin had refused to publicly commit to an appointment until the last minute.

The Putin meeting with Tillerson began shortly after 6 pm local time, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said.

It appeared Tillerson had to delay his departure from Moscow until Thursday to accommodate the meeting, which comes as heated rhetoric has surged between the two governments.

Putin earlier said U.S.-Russian relations had badly deteriorated, despite Trump’s friendly words for Putin during the election campaign, and suspicions among U.S. officials that Moscow helped Trump get elected.

Russia accuses Washington of faking the Assad responsibility in last week’s chemical attack as a pretext, the way U.S. officials trumped up a case for going to war in Iraq to destroy non-existent weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

But U.S. officials say there is “no doubt” that the Assad regime was behind the attack, possibly with sarin gas, that killed dozens of people including many children. The only question, the officials say, is how much Russia knew in advance.

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