The United States is "playing the terrorism game", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during his first phone talks with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson since the US air strikes on Syria.
"A country which battles against terrorism is just playing the terrorism game," and "creates regional and global security threats", Mr Lavrov warned Mr Tillerson, according to a Russian foreign ministry statement.
He also reaffirmed Russia's position that accusations that the Syrian regime had launched a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun last week "are not in line with reality".
The attack on the rebel-held town left at least 72 people dead, including 20 children.
On Thursday the US fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships in the Mediterranean at the Shayrat airfield near Homs in central Syria.
59 Tomahawk missiles were launched from the USS Porter and USS Ross targeting a Syrian air base pic.twitter.com/wTRQnBvKoH
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 7, 2017
The previous day, US President Donald Trump said pictures of the Khan Sheikhun victims in agony, had "an enormous impact" on him.
Mr Trump said he was responding to the regime's attack, which is believed to have involved sarin nerve agent.
"Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many," Mr Trump said.
"Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror."
Russia condemned the US action saying it was an act of "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law".
The phone call between Mr Lavrov and Mr TIllerson was the first between the top diplomats of Russia and the US since the strikes on the Syrian airfield.
Mr Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, is due to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday for two days of talks.
Yesterday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow expects "explanations", during Mr Tillerson's visit, for the US air strike on the Syrian airbase.
For his part, Mr Tillerson said he was disappointed" by Russia's reaction "because it indicates their continued support" for the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Johnson cancels Moscow trip over 'Syrian developments'
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has cancelled a visit to Moscow in the wake of the chemical weapons attack.
Mr Johnson was due to visit Russia on Monday for talks with Mr Lavrov, which would have been the first visit by a UK foreign secretary in more than five years.
However in a statement, Mr Johnson said: "Developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally."
He attacked the Kremlin, saying: "We deplore Russia's continued defence of the Assad regime even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians."
The Syrian military said at least seven people were killed and several others injured in the US strike which caused extensive damage to the base at Shayrat, in central Syria, from where Tuesday's chemical strike was believed to have been launched.
Mr Johnson said he would now focus on building support with allies to secure a ceasefire in war-torn Syria.
He said: "We call on Russia to do everything possible to bring about a political settlement in Syria and work with the rest of the international community to ensure that the shocking events of the last week are never repeated."
"My priority is now to continue contact with the US and others in the run-up to the G7 meeting on 10-11 April - to build coordinated international support for a ceasefire on the ground and an intensified political process."
The British Foreign Secretary had originally planned to fly out to Moscow at the end of March, but rescheduled the visit in order to attend a meeting with NATO counterparts, including Mr Tillerson.
The US has warned it is "prepared to do more" to stop the horrors that are taking place in Syria under Bashar al-Assad.
