MOSCOW // US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov began tense talks in Moscow on Wednesday as the two sides locked horns over an Syrian chemical attack and subsequent missile strike by Washington.
Mr Tillerson said he wanted "a very open, candid and frank exchange" as the two men try to figure each other out during the first visit to Russia by a senior member of US president Donald Trump's administration.
"Our meeting today comes at an important moment in our relationship so that we can further clarify areas of common objectives, areas of common interest - even where our tactical approaches may be different - and further clarify areas of sharp difference so that we can better understand why these differences exist," he said.
Mr Lavrov said Moscow was hoping to understand Washington's "real intentions" during the visit and warned that Russia considered it "fundamentally important" to prevent more "unlawful" US strikes in Syria.
"Your visit is very timely," Mr Lavrov said, adding that it offered an opportunity to clarify the chances of cooperation between the two sides "above all on the formation of a broad anti-terrorist front".
Despite hopes of an improvement in Russia-US ties under Mr Trump, the Tillerson-Lavrov talks looked set to be dominated by the war of words over Syria - where more than 320,000 people have died in six years of war.
And with US officials suggesting Russian forces may have colluded in the latest atrocity blamed on president Bashar Al Assad's regime, it is not clear whether Mr Tillerson will be invited to meet president Vladimir Putin, with the Kremlin only saying there was a "probability" they could talk.
*Agence France-Presse
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