Justice: At the top of Helsinki, Trump hopes for an "extraordinary relationship" with Putin

Stand: 14:41 | Reading time: 3 minutes

U Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin gathered for the long-awaited summit of Helsinki. Trump expressed in the reception the desire for an "extraordinary relationship" to Putin, the Kremlin boss in turn called for concrete results of rapprochement. Shortly before the meeting, Trump said the relationship with Russia was worse than ever – and blamed his own country for it.

"Understanding Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing," said Trump. The summit will talk about "everything": trade, the army, missiles, nuclear weapons and China. The two leaders are also concerned with nuclear disarmament, the US president said.

Putin himself said: "It is time to hold concrete consultations". The two heads of state wanted to first exchange privately, only the interpreters should be there. Later, delegations should be invited to discussions at a working lunch. A press conference is planned

While avoiding criticism of Russia before the summit, Trump has made serious accusations against the former US government and his country's investigation into the case Russian: "Our relations with Russia have never been so bad because of the many years of stupidity and stupidity in the United States," Trump wrote in the service of Twitter short messages shortly before the meeting with Putin [19659012] In addition, the "witch hunt" of the American investigator Robert Mueller is responsible for the bad relations.Mueller investigates the alleged involvement of Moscow in the US presidential campaign in 2016.

From Moscow Trump received favorable approval for his blame in the US The Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted: "We are in agreement."

Despite the signs of relaxation, many questions at the meeting from Helsinki between Washington and Moscow are likely to be on the table. Trump is at home under pressure to use hard words to express Moscow's alleged interference in the presidential election campaign. Just last week, US justice had charged twelve Russian agents for alleged attacks of pirates against Democrats.

Another key topic of the interview, according to the Kremlin, will be the war in Syria. Russia is the most important ally of leader Bashar al-Assad. The United States launched mbadive air strikes against government positions in April, with France and the United Kingdom. Another source of conflict is the war in Ukraine and the exit of the United States from the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Trump's meeting with Putin follows talks at the NATO summit in Brussels and the British government in the United Kingdom. Trump had angered the old ally of his country with severe verbal attacks. He therefore called the EU "Russia" opposed to Russia and China. The United States and the European Union have each submitted to high tariffs.

Trump's relations with NATO are also tense: the US president has long attacked other NATO member states, particularly Germany. He accused them of not contributing enough to the financing of the alliance. On Monday, he said before the meeting with Putin that NATO had never been stronger than today.

Despite US allies' concerns over Trump's possible concessions to Putin, the federal government hailed the Helsinki summit. "It is important that the US President and the Russian President speak to each other," said government spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel has already expressed the hope that it should also be devoted to the issues of disarmament and nuclear arms control.