Donald Trump is meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister just one day after firing the man leading the investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign team and Russia.
James Comey was unceremoniously sacked by Mr Trump last night while the former FBI Director was speaking to employees at the Los Angeles field office.
When asked whether the Comey dismissal affected the meeting with Russia, Mr Trump said "not at all."
Sergei Lavrov also met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier today and took the opportunity to mock the firing on camera. "He was fired? You're kidding," Mr Lavrov said.
Speaking after the meeting in the Oval Office, Mr Lavrov described the discussion as "free of ideology, which hampered ties with the Obama White House." He also referred to Mr Trump's aides as "people of action."
He said he and Mr Trump discussed Ukraine. Mr Lavrov said Russia wants to "play a decisive role" with the US in Afghanistan, where Mr Trump recently announced he would like to send an additional 1,500 to 5,000 US troops.
The US has been fighting in Afghanistan for 16 years and currently have 8,400 troops in the country.
There have been reports that senior US military officials have been concerned that Russia may possibly be arming members of the Taliban terror group.
Mr Lavrov also briefly discussed the United Nations Security Council and said he hopes to see a "political solution." US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has not minced words in her criticism of Russia, who have vetoed any resolutions to end the conflict in Syria eight separate times.
The foreign minister also mentioned several times that Russia hopes to remove "barriers" to their relationship with the US but did not elaborate further on what those were. The pair did not discuss sanctions, however.
Mr Trump expressed his interest in pursuing "business-like relations" with Russia, according to Mr Lavrov.
