US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have met on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in the Philippine capital of Manila. It's the first time they have talked face to face since US President Donald Trump signed into law a package of new sanctions against Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Tillerson and Lavrov ignored a question, shouted by a journalist, about how the new sanctions might affect their discussions. The Russian foreign minister said he and his US counterpart had discussed cooperation on tackling cybercrime and resolving the DPRK nuclear issue.

Earlier on Sunday, the White House said that it appreciated Russia’s cooperation in securing passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution that increases sanctions on Pyongyang in response to its recent missile tests.