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'It's an honour to be with you:' Trump meets Putin for 1st sit-down

July 07, 2017 22:28 IST

United States President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

Speaking to reporters in a brief photo-op before their bilateral meeting, the US president said, “President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think it’s going very well,” reports the CNN.

He added, “We’ve had some very good talks. We’re going to have a talk now, and obviously that will continue, but we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, the United States and for everybody concerned. It’s an honour to be with you.”

IMAGE: Putin and Trump exchanged pleasantries and were accompanied by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the bilateral meeting.
Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

To this, Putin responded: “I’m delighted to be able to meet you personally, Mr President, and I hope as you have said our meeting will yield positive results.”

The leaders were accompanied by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the bilateral meeting.

IMAGE: The meeting between the two comes amid controversy over the Kremlin's meddling in the 2016 US election. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

The meeting comes amid controversy over collusion of Trump’s campaign team with Russia. Trump and his administration are facing multiple investigations focussing on the Kremlin’s role in the 2016 election meddling and whether members of his campaign possibly sought to collude with Russia.

A special counsel and several congressional committees are now looking into the issue.

IMAGE: Trump said that he was 'honoured' to meet Putin as they sat down together on Friday afternoon. As the meeting started he said that he and Putin had been 'discussing various things and I think it's going very, very well. Photograph: BPA/Getty Images
Source: ANI