Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on July 16, 2018 at the Helsinki summit, which was the first fully-fledged U.S.-Russian summit during President Trump’s tenure. Prior to the meeting in Helsinki, the U.S. and the Russian Presidents met twice: during the G20 summit in Hamburg in July 2017 and on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Danang in November 2017.

The two leaders’ face-to-face meeting started one hour later than planned at 2:10 PM. Presidents Putin and Trump communicated behind closed doors for more than two hours.

Later, Presidents Putin and Trump were joined by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Huntsman, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, and special assistant to the U.S. President Fiona Hill. The leaders’ discussions continued in a “working breakfast” format.

During the breakfast, President Trump said that he considered the tete-a-tete meeting with Mr. Putin to be a very good start for everyone.

Vladimir Putin was the first to speak at the press conference. The Russian leader said that the talks with the U.S. President were “very successful and useful” and that the discussions took place “in a candid and businesslike atmosphere.” The Russian leader said that he gave President Trump a proposal regarding the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

President Putin said that the talks reflected a joint desire of the Russian and the American side “to rectify the negative situation in the bilateral relationship, to outline the first steps for its recovery, to restore an acceptable level of confidence, and to return to cooperation at the previous level.”

The Russian leader noted that the Russian and the American law enforcement authorities were in touch with each other during World Cup 2018. President Putin also talked about reaching an agreement to create a working group with the participation of the two countries’ business leaders and said that Moscow and Washington have all the necessary components for the Syrian settlement.

In his turn, President Trump said, “Constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia affords the opportunity to open new pathways toward peace and stability in our world.” The U.S. President added that Russia will work with the U.S. on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

President Trump explained that he considers President Putin a competitor, but that to him that word is a “compliment.”

At the press conference, the journalists were allowed to ask only four questions – two from the Russian media and two from the U.S. press. The Presidents answered questions about the world energy markets, about Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. political process, and even about the kompromat, i.e. the compromising material, that some have suggested Russia collected regarding Mr. Trump.

In answering the questions, President Putin suggested that the United States “work constructively to regulate international markets” for energy sources. He suggested to President Trump that the special prosecutor Robert Muller ask the Russian side to interrogate Russian citizens under the treaty on mutual assistance in criminal matters that the two countries entered into in 1999.

The Russian leader handed President Trump the official ball of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The U.S. President stated that both Moscow and Washington are to blame for the worsening of bilateral relations, “I think we’ve all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago…”

President Trump added that Russia helped the United States in fighting the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria.

In answering the question on Moscow’s having compromising information on the U.S. leader, President Putin said that Russia does not surveil foreign businessmen. “It’s difficult to imagine an utter nonsense of a bigger scale than this,” Mr. Putin concluded.