Trump in a post on Twitter warned Russia that missiles 'will be coming' in Syria following a suspected chemical attack and chided Putin for being 'partners' with Assad.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the US could aid Russia's economy and sought an end to what he called an "arms race," lamenting that relations with Moscow had reached an all-time low.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump in a post on Twitter warned Russia that missiles "will be coming" in Syria following a suspected chemical attack and chided Russian President Vladimir Putin for being "partners" with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Trump, in another tweet less than an hour later, said the US-Russia relationship is "worse now than it has ever been ... There is no reason for this" and urged cooperation, just days after the United States imposed major sanctions on a number of Putin's allies.
"Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?" Trump wrote.
It was not immediately clear what economic steps the president was referring to, and representatives for the White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Trump's tweets come amid Washington's strained relations with Moscow in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election, which US intelligence agencies said was targeted by Russia. Moscow has denied any interference, and Trump has denied any collusion.
Earlier, Trump warned Russia of imminent military action in Syria over a suspected poison gas attack, declaring that missiles "will be coming" and lambasting Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Trump was reacting to a warning from Assad's main ally Russia on Tuesday that any US missiles fired at Syria over the deadly assault on a rebel enclave would be shot down and the launch sites targeted.
"Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'," Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.
"You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!" Trump said, referring Moscow's alliance with Assad.
In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a Facebook post that "smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not towards the lawful government", referring to Syrian rebels and Assad respectively.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said any US missile strike could be an attempt to destroy evidence of the reported chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma, for which Damascus and Moscow have denied any responsibility.
After the attack, the rebel group holed up in Douma - Jaish al-Islam - finally agreed to withdraw from the town. That sealed a major victory for Assad in Syria's civil war, crushing a protracted rebellion in the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.
Officials at the White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for more details about Trump's comments on the planned military action. The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 43 people had died in Saturday's attack on Douma from "symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals", and more than 500 in all had been treated.
Moscow's threat to down US missiles came from its ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, who said he was referring to a statement by President Vladimir Putin and the Russian armed forces chief of staff.
Zasypkin also said that any hostilities with Washington should be avoided and Moscow was ready for negotiations.
But his remarks could raise fears of direct conflict for the first time between major powers backing opposing sides in Syria's protracted civil war.
Oil prices hit their highest level in more than three years on Wednesday after Trump's threat to unleash missiles, and US stock index futures fell sharply over rising concern about possible Russian-US conflict over Syria.
The Kremlin said earlier on Wednesday it hoped all sides involved in Syria would avoid doing anything to destabilise an already fragile situation in the Middle East, and made clear it strongly opposed any US strike on its ally.
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