Syria Chemical Attack | US strike on a Syrian airbase is 'considerable damage' to US-Russia ties: Kremlin

Russia on Friday said that US strikes in Syria have inflicted 'considerable damage' to US-Russia ties.

President Vladimir Putin considers the US strike on a Syrian airbase on Friday as "aggression against a sovereign state," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"President Putin considers American strikes on Syria aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international norms, and under an invented pretext," Peskov was reported as saying. 

Earlier, Russia, one of the key supporter of the Assad regime in Syria, has "failed in its responsibility" to deliver on a 2013 commitment to secure Syria's chemical weapons, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said ahead of his visit to Moscow next week.

 Tillerson's visit, the first trip to Russia by a Trump administration official aimed at establishing closer ties with the former Cold War foe, was announced after the US launched cruise missiles against an air base in Syria in retaliation to the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun in rebel-held Idlib province.

Also Read | Several dead in US strike on Syria base: Homs governor

"Clearly Russia has failed in its responsibility. EitherRussia has been complicit or either Russia has been simply incompetent in its ability to deliver on its end of that agreement," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters atPalm Beach in Florida after the US launched cruise missiles against a Syrian air base. 

The US launched a massive military strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation to a"barbaric" chemical attack on civilians allegedly by embattledPresident Bashar al-Assad's regime and asked all "civilised" countries to join it to end the killing of innocent people.

Also Read: Syria chemical attack Russia defends Assad govt amid international outcry

On President Donald Trump's orders, US warships in theMediterranean Sea launched between 50-60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat air base, in Homs governorate, where the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks are based,US officials said. (with PTI Inputs)