US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley said the new administration of President Donald Trump “will not hesitate to call out Russia if we see something wrong.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera after Trump’s first address to a joined session of US Congress on Tuesday evening, Haley said the president had changed his tone.

Asked if Russia could be one of those allies, or whether Moscow was a foe of the new Trump administration, Haley said: “Russia doesn’t have to be one or the other.

“Certainly if we can get Russia to be with us, that’s fine. But today we were very upset by Russia not voting for the resolution that criticized Syria for using chemical weapons on their own people.

“We have criticized Russia for Crimea and Ukraine, for the actions they’ve taken there. We will call them out when we see something wrong. If we see where we can work together, of course, we’re going to try and do that.”

Haley repeated that US allies have nothing to worry about.

“My allies know, now more than ever, that we got their back. Israel has seen it; Ukraine has seen it; France and the UK has seen it,” the ambassador said. “And they’ve seen us call out Russia multiple times.”