Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump met one-on-one in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday after months of build-up.
But in the public moments surrounding the meeting, Trump focused on praise for Russia’s recent World Cup hosting duties, rather than the country’s 12 intelligence officials charged by the U.S. Justice Department with hacking into the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, on Friday.
Trump and Putin met privately — with only their respective translators present — for more than two hours. Afterward, they were joined by their official delegations for additional talks over a late lunch.
New cameras were allowed into the dining room briefly before the food was served. Asked by a reporter how talks were going, Trump responded, “I think it’s a good start. Very, very good start for everybody.”
Ahead of their private talks, Trump told reporters that he and the Russian president would discuss trade and military, among other things. He noted of Russia and the U.S., “We’ve been not getting along for the past years.”
The president seemed to be optimistic about the conversation before declaring the “good start,” teasing, “We’ll have an extraordinary relationship.”
He noted as the headed out, “The world awaits.”
Even earlier on Monday, before heading into the talks, Trump tweeted, “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
Trump’s criticism of his own country was retweeted by the Russian Foreign Ministry — with the simple endorsement, “We agree” — only compounding astonishment back home over Trump’s handling of Putin.
“You had Ronald Reagan calling the Soviet Union ‘the evil empire’ in advance of talks,” Anderson Cooper said on CNN. “I mean, it’s as if the president today is calling the United States the stupid empire in advance of talks.”
Veteran foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, from NBC News, called Trump’s tweet the “perfect propaganda tool for Russia.”
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Clinton also hit out at Trump, writing on Twitter, “Great World Cup. Question for President Trump as he meets Putin: Do you know which team you play for?”
