U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope on Monday in Helsinki that he would establish “extraordinary relations” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as good relations with Russia are “a good thing, not a bad thing.”
“I think we will have extraordinary relations. Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said at the very beginning of the meeting with Putin, before they retreated for talks behind closed doors. The start of the meeting was delayed because Putin was late arriving in Finland.
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“We have a lot of topics to discuss, everything from trade, military issues, missiles, China. We will talk a little about China, about our mutual friend Xi,” Trump said. Xi Jinping is the Chinese president.
After the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, Trump said, “I think this is a good start. A very good start for everyone.” Only translators were present at the discussions between the two leaders.
Trump previously praised Putin and Russia for the excellent organization of the World Cup and the good performance of the Russian national team. Russian President Putin said, for his part, that the time has come to discuss relations between Moscow and Washington and “painful” international issues.
“We maintain regular contacts, we have talked on the phone, we have had several meetings on the margins of various forums. Now it is high time to discuss in detail our bilateral relations and various painful topics on a global level, and there are many of them,” Putin said, thanking Finland for its hospitality.
A few hours before his first bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that U.S.-Russian relations have never been worse, due to “American stupidity.”
