First of all Mr President I’d like to congratulate you on a really great World Cup. One of the best ever from what everybody tells me and also for your team, itself, doing so well.
I watched quite a bit and in the United States we call it soccer and I watched quite a bit of it and I watched the entire final and the semi-finals and they were really spectacular games, but it was beautifully done so congratulations on that.
Most importantly we have a lot of good things to talk about … we have discussions on everything from trade to military, to missiles, to nuclear, to China, we’ll be talking a little bit about China – our mutual friend President Xi.
I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that frankly we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years. I’ve been here not too long but it is getting close to two years, but I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. I’ve been saying, and I’m sure you’ve heard, over the years … that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing.
I really think the world wants to see us get along. We are the two great nuclear powers. We have 90% of the nuclear – and that’s not a good thing it’s a bad thing. I think we can hopefully do something about that because it is not a positive force it is a negative force so we’ll be talking about that among other things.
And with that the world awaits and I look forward to our personal discussion which I think begins now and then we are going to meet our whole team. You have quite a few representatives as I do. We all have a lot of questions and hopefully, we will come up with answers most importantly. It is great to be with you.
Thank you everybody.
The Guardian: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are holding a one-to-one meeting in Helsinki after posing for a tense photo-call. The two men shook hands for only three seconds.
In opening remarks to Putin, Trump said he planned to discuss trade, military, missiles and China. He did not mention Russian meddling in the US election, Ukraine, Syria, Nato or Salisbury poisoning. But he congratulate Putin on a successful World Cup.
“Getting along with Russia is a good thing,” Trump said after admitting the US and Russia have “not been getting along very well for the last number of years”. He added: “I really think the world wants to see us get along. We are the two great nuclear powers.”
Both Putin and Trump delayed their arrival to the summit in what was widely interpreted as diplomatic gamesmanship. Putin’s plane arrived in Helsinki almost an hour after the summit was due to begin. Trump then delayed his arrival at the Presidential Palace where the talks are taking place.
In a pre-summit tweet Trump said US-Russia relations have “never been worse”. He went on to blame the “rigged with hunt” into Russian meddling in the US election. Russia’s foreign ministry said it agreed with that assessment.
In another pre-summit tweet Trump hailed last week’s strained meeting with Nato as a success. He said: “We had a truly great Summit that was inaccurately covered by much of the media. NATO is now strong & rich!”
Mr Trump said getting along with Russia would be a “good thing, not a bad thing”, in opening remarks in front of media before his closed-door summit with Mr Vladimir Putin.
“Most importantly we have a lot of good things to talk about,” the US president said.
He added that the two leaders will talk about “everything from trade to military to missiles to China. We’ll be talking a little bit about China. Our mutual friend president Xi.”
