Jane Onyanga-Omara, and Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than two hours of "very frank" talks Wednesday in the Kremlin amid tensions over a U.S. airstrike against a Syria air base blamed for last week's deadly chemical attack.

In remarks to reporters after the meeting, Tillerson said he told the Russian leader that current relations between the two countries are at a "low point."

"There is a low level of trust between our two countries," Tillerson said in a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. "The world's two foremost nuclear owners cannot have this kind of relationship."

Lavrov described the talks between the secretary and Putin as "substantial" and "very frank."

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In their remarks to reporters, both sought to emphasize opportunities for improving relations. Lavrov said a "deconfliction" hotline would be restored to avoid inadvertent collisions by the air forces of both countries in the Syrian war zones.

Russia suspended the agreement following the U.S. attack on a Syrian airfield last week in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by Syria on areas controlled by forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad, a Russian ally.

Lavrov also said Russia was calling for an independent investigation through the U.N. into the circumstances surrounding the chemical attack and the U.S. response to "try and identify the culprits."

While he said the two sides had agreed to work together on an international investigation into the attack, Tillerson spokesman R.C. Hammond says “no agreement was reached.”

Still, Washington is not standing in the way of an investigation. The U.S. says the U.N. doesn’t need action from the U.S. to investigate because there are already mechanisms in place to investigate chemical weapons use in Syria.

Russia has suggested the attack may have been the work of rebels or that Syrian planes hit hidden caches of chemical weapons controlled by them. The U.S. has said its intelligence reports show conclusively that the chemical attack was planned and carried out by Syria. At least 86 people were killed in the attack.

Tillerson, who said prior to this visit that Russia was either complicit or incompetent regarding Syrian use of chemical weapons, sidestepped the issue or any Russian role in the attack.

"We have no firm information to indicate was any involvement by Russia or Russian forces into this attack," he said. "What we do know, and we have very firm and high confidence, (is) that the attack was planned and carried out by the regime forces at the direction of Bashar Assad."

The two sides expressed their agreement over the need to defeat the Islamic State in the region. Lavrov said defeating the terrorist group is a more important priority than Assad remaining in power.

"We have to see common threats, they are apparent," he said. "We should be guided by common sense, not emotions."

Both officials addressed the question of allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. elections. Tillerson said there was no talk of additional sanctions in the wake of U.S. charges over the issue, but noted that it was an issue raised by Congress. "We are mindful of the seriousness of that particular interference in our elections and I am sure that Russia is mindful of it as well."

Lavrov, echoing past denials of any Russian hacking or other interference in the electoral process, said Moscow hasn’t seen “a single fact, or even a hint at facts” proving the U.S. allegations of Russian interference.

The unscheduled talks between Putin and the secretary came as Moscow warned against the U.S. repeating its missile strike on a Syrian air base.

Russian authorities earlier said a meeting with Putin was not on the agenda, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the Russian leader could meet with Tillerson “if it is decided” that he needs to be briefed on the outcome of the secretary's talks with his Russian counterpart Lavrov.

In an interview broadcast Wednesday before the meeting with Tillerson, Putin said relations with the U.S. have worsened in the first few months of Trump’s presidency.

“It can be said that the level of trust at the working level, especially at the military level, has not become better but most likely has degraded,” he told state broadcaster Mir TV.

Putin also charged that the U.S. broke international law by striking the air base without providing evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

It was not the first meeting between the two men. Tillerson, as CEO of ExxonMobil, forged a close relationship with the Russian leader over business dealings in the past. In 2013, Putin personally awarded Tillerson the Russian Order of Friendship when the two met to negotiate ExxonMobil's $50 billion deal for Russian oil and gas rights.