US President Donald Trump opened his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday by raising US concerns about Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. He added that Putin denied being involved.
Trump’s decision to confront Putin directly over election interference fulfilled ardent demands by US lawmakers of both parties that the president not shy away from the issue in his highly anticipated meeting with Putin.
Trump has avoided stating unequivocally in the past that Russia interfered, even as investigations proceed into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians who sought to help him win.
Putin’s denial of culpability notwithstanding, he and Trump agreed that the issue has become a hindrance to better relations between the two powers, said Tillerson, who attended the more-than-two-hour meeting along with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Tillerson said the discussion about the election meddling was “robust and lengthy.”
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tillerson said the two leaders had agreed to continue the discussion, with an eye toward securing a commitment that Russia won’t interfere in US affairs in the future.
“I think the president is rightly focused on how do we move forward from something that may be an intractable disagreement at this point,” Tillerson said.
Lavrov said Trump “accepted” Putin’s assurance that Moscow did not meddle in America’s election.
“President Trump said he heard clear statements from Putin that (the allegations of meddling) are not true, and that Russian authorities did not intervene, and he accepted these declarations,” said Lavrov, who sat in the power meet between the US and Russian leaders.
Tillerson said Putin and Trump also discussed a cease-fire deal for southwestern Syria that was reached by Russia and the US during their meeting,
Though the US and Russia have held conflicting views on Syria in the past, Tillerson said Russia had an interest in seeing the nation become a stable place.
The meeting has been closely scrutinized for signs of how friendly a rapport Trump and Putin will have.
Deep skepticism about Russia in the US and ongoing investigations into whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with Moscow during last year’s election have made a US-Russia detente politically risky for Trump.
The meeting with Putin came midway through a hectic, four-day European visit for Trump, who addressed thousands of Poles in an outdoor speech in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday.
In a prelude to their formal sit-down, Trump and Putin shook hands and exchanged broad grins earlier Friday in a brief exchange caught on video as a leaders’ retreat got under way in Hamburg.
A brief video clip showed Trump outstretching his hand to Putin as officials gathered around a table, then patting Putin’s elbow as both men smiled. In another clip, Trump casually patted Putin on the back as they stood side by side.
Video of the brief exchange was posted to Facebook by the German Cabinet. It was the first known in-person interaction between the two men.

Source: AFP