'They're never going to be our friend', Nikki Haley says US will never trust Russia or Putin

WASHINGTON: The US will never trust Russia or its President Vladimir Putin, America's envoy to the UN Nikki Haley has said amidst an uproar over President Donald Trump's alleged bonhomie with his Russian counterpart.

Trump, who met with Putin in Helsinki last week, has been slammed by the US media and political opponents for failing to defend the American intelligence community during a much-talked about Press conference with Putin in Helsinki after their first summit.

The US Ambassador to the UN told Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) News: "We don't trust Russia, we don't trust Putin, we never will. They're never going to be our friend. That's just a fact."

At the same time, Haley supported the move to have talks with the Russians.

"What I do think is, whether it's the President sitting down with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un or whether the President sits down with Putin, those are things that have to happen.

You can't get to the end of the other side if you don't have those conversations," Haley said in response to a question.

She came out in support of Trump's one-on-one meeting with the world leaders.

"He (Trump) did that with Kim. He's done it with other leaders. He did it with President Xi (Jinping) of China and that's just his way. He feels like he can get more out of them if he goes one-on-one like that. It's his style. It's the way he does it.

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"You're going to see their next meetings are going to have people in them, the working groups are going to come together, all of those things.

But he's always thought just to create that genuine reality of the two of them talking, he feels like he needs to do it face-to-face," said Haley, the first-ever Cabinet-ranking Indian-American official.