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HELSINKI (AP) – President Donald Trump and Russian Vladimir Putin are ready to meet face-to-face at a summit that is being played against the backdrop of fraternal western alliances. new summit of the investigation Monday's meeting was condemned in advance by an assortment of Congressmen from both parties after the US indictment last week of 12 Russian military intelligence officers accused of hacking Democrats in the 2016 election to help Trump's presidential campaign. Undeterred, the US President is ready to face Putin, the authoritarian leader for whom he expressed admiration. The meeting comes as questions swirl to find out if Trump will publicly and roughly reprimand his Russian counterpart for the election interference that prompted a special council to investigate Trump's repeatedly tagging a witch hunt.
A show that will dominate the headlines as its rendezvous with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, the Kremlin's primary mission was simply the occurrence of the summit. Putin hopes that the meeting, a few hours after presiding over the World Cup finals, will help him forge good personal ties with Trump and will focus on areas where Moscow and Washington could find a home ground. agreement, like Syria.
head-to-head in the opulent gothic hall of the Finnish presidential palace, then continue their discussions with an enlarged group of assistants and lunch in the ice gallery, which was once the throne room of the emperor. The leaders will then take questions at a press conference before parting.
Putin probably will not aim at the official recognition of the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 or the easing of paralyzing US sanctions, knowing that the US Congress will never accept such action . But he would like a symbolic end to Western protests against the Crimea and Moscow's attempts to destabilize elections and traditional Western alliances and norms.
Trump unleashed his own attacks on these same institutions before arriving in Finland.
In an interview with CBS broadcast Sunday, Trump called the European Union a group of nations including many allies of the United States, "enemy".
"I think the European Union is an enemy, what it does to us in the trade" The Trump attack at a NATO summit in Brussels, where he harshly criticized the traditional allies about "delinquent" defense spending, confirmed his commitment to the military alliance that has long been a bulwark against Russian aggression.
And on the eve of his meeting with Putin, who repressed press freedom, Trump unleashed a series of attacks on the media as Air Force One descended into Helsinki, complaining that Democrats and the press were unlikely to give him credit for achievements at the top.
"Unfortunately, no matter how I do it at the Summit, if I were given the big city of Moscow as a reward for all the sins and evils committed by Russia over the years, I would go back to the criticism that this n & # 39; 39 was not good enough – that I should have had St. Petersburg besides! "Trump tweeted. "Much of our media is indeed the enemy of the people and all the Dems know how to resist and obstruct!"
In his next tweet, he congratulated Putin for organizing "one of the best World Cup tournaments" "Russia did nothing to deserve that we meet them from this way, "said Nina Jankowicz, international officer at the Wilson Center Kennan Institute, specializing in Russia, Ukraine and misinformation. For Putin, she added, "it's not just a PR shot, whatever happens, Trump can not say anything and that would help legitimize his regime."
Helsinki is the Spectrum of 2016 Election Interference The investigation of Robert Mueller on a possible collusion between the leaders of the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump told Britain last week – another chaotic step on his European tour – that he would raise the issue of electoral interference with Putin.
"I do not think you'll have a" Gee, I did it, I did it, you got me, "Trump said summoning a TV detective. There will be no Perry Mason here, I do not think so, but you never know what's going on, is not it? "
Trump also said in the CBS interview that he had given No question to ask Putin to extradite the dozen Russian military policemen indicted last week for charges related to the hacking of Democratic targets.
But after being questioned at On this subject by his interviewer, Trump said, "I will certainly ask about this" although extradition is highly unlikely.The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Moscow and can not force Russians to surrender their citizens The Russian Constitution also prohibits the surrender of citizens to foreign governments.
Putin reaffirms will unambiguously deny its refusal of any interference and reject the baseless US accusations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected the indictment of last week. comedy "staged by those in the United States who are trying to prevent the normalization of Russia and the United States On Syria, a possible deal could allow Moscow to help negotiate the withdrawal of forces Iranian and their Hezbollah proxies from Syria's border areas with Israel – a diplomatic coup d'état that would reflect Russia's carefully maintained ties with Israel and Iran.
While Putin and Trump both spoke of the need to discuss arms control issues, it is unlikely that they will conclude quick agreements, and they can underline the importance of continuing discussions, paving the way for discussions. on the level of experts.
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Isachenkov reported from Moscow.
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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ @ JonLemire ,, Colvin at http: // twitter .com / @ colvinj and Isachenkov at http: // twi tter.com/@visachenkov
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