Washington still seeks to better relations with Russia, despite announcing harsh new sanctions this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told counterpart Sergey Lavrov by phone on Friday afternoon. "Secretary Pompeo reiterated that the United States seeks an improved relationship with Russia and agreed to future dialogue," said spokesperson Heather Nauert Additionally, the two shared updates on Syria, the State Department said. Earlier, Moscow said that Lavrov firmly rejected responsibility for the Salisbury incident in March, which served as a pretext for the new sanctions.