White House furious after Russian media posted Oval Office photos

Washington: An official has said that the White House did not anticipate that the Russian Government would allow its state news agency to post photographs of the Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russia`s ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.

According to a report by the CNN, photos of yesterday`s meeting were posted by Russia`s news agency, TASS while the White House did not post photos of the meeting.

The State Department did post photos of Lavrov`s meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, but that was open to the press.

"They tricked us. That`s the problem with the Russians -- they lie," the White House official said, adding the Russians used the photos to troll the White House in its social media posts on Wednesday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry posted a photo of a smiling U.S. President shaking hands with Lavrov on Twitter while also posting a video of Lavrov joking about FBI chief James Comey`s firing.

The White House blocked U.S. reporters from photographing the meeting, opting to allow only White House and Russian photographers to capture images of Trump`s interactions with Lavrov. The White House official insisted it is standard practice to keep more of a lid on presidential meetings with lower-level foreign officials.