Putin-Trump summit gets underway

HELSINKI — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump have begun bilateral negotiations in Helsinki’s presidential palace on Monday.

The meeting began nearly an hour later than planned, a TASS correspondent reported.

Initially, it was planned that the Russian leader would arrive at 13:00, while the negotiations would start at 13:20.

After Trump’s arrival (about 30 minutes after the Russian president), the two leaders shook hands with each other and proceeded to the palace’s Gothic Hall where the negotiations began.

The talks are scheduled to take 90 minutes but, actually, there are no exact timeframes.

The two heads of state will talk about “everything from trade to military, from missiles to China. We’ll be talking a little bit about China. Our mutual friend president Xi,” Trump said.

Putin said he is glad to meet his US counterpart and wants to discuss with him relations between the two countries and global problems.

“We maintain regular contacts – we have spoken over the phone and had several meetings on the sidelines of various forums. But, obviously, it is high time to discuss in detail our bilateral relations and various painful topics of the global agenda – there are quite a lot of them,” the Russian leader said at the beginning of his talks with Trump.

The two leaders entered the Gothic Hall with serious expressions, moving quickly to two ornate wooden chairs set before American and Russian flags. Trump sat upright as Putin appeared to lounge in his chair.

Trump deferred to Putin to make opening remarks, nodding along as his comments in Russian were translated. Trump predicted that the pair will have an “extraordinary relationship.”

Trump initiated a brief handshake with Putin, as the assembled press jostled to capture the moment.TASS/AP