Trump, Putin discuss vote hacking
RUSSIAN LEADER DENIES HACKING BEFORE PAIR MOVE ON TO SYRIA, UKRAINE, N. KOREA
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had a “robust and lengthy exchange” over Russian interference in the U.S. elections and agreed to a new ceasefire agreement for Syria in their first face-to-face meeting yesterday.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg for talks in which they also discussed the war in Ukraine, the North Korean nuclear crisis and cybersecurity.
But the meeting began with what Rex Tillerson, the U.S. secretary of state, described as a “very robust and lengthy exchange” about Russian interference in last year’s presidential election, in which Putin demanded proof of alleged Russian involvement.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, confirmed the exchange took place and claimed Trump “heard Putin’s statements that Russia didn’t hack election and accepts them.”
While Putin has denied Russia played any direct role in the election meddling, he and Trump agreed the issue had become a hindrance to better relations between the two powers, Tillerson said. Putin and Trump, accompanied by Lavrov and Tillerson, left a meeting on climate change with other leaders early for their meeting.
Speaking alongside Putin before the talks began, Trump called it an “honour” to meet the Russian president. “We’ve had some very, very good talks. We’re going to have a talk now and obviously that will continue. We look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States and for everybody concerned,” Trump said.
‘WE’VE HAD SOME VERY, VERY GOOD TALKS. WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A TALK NOW AND OBVIOUSLY THAT WILL CONTINUE. WE LOOK FORWARD TO A LOT OF VERY POSITIVE THINGS … FOR RUSSIA, FOR THE U.S.’ — DONALD TRUMP
Putin said they had spoken over the phone about “important bilateral and international issues... but phone conversations are not enough”.
Lavrov said the new Syria peace agreement would come into force in the southwest of the war-torn country at noon local time Saturday. The deal, which also involves Israel and Jordan, is separate from the establishment of “safe zones” agreed by Russia, Turkey and Iran at talks in Astana.
Earlier in the day Trump, Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, and Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, said they would apply “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang, by pushing new sanctions on North Korea after it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this week. They failed to convince China and Russia, however. Putin called for a “pragmatic and delicate” approach to the North Korean issue, saying in a meeting with Moon that “one must not lose his cool.”
Little agreement appeared to have been reached on the issue of climate change. In the run-up to the summit, Angela Merkel made it clear she intended to make the issue the centrepiece of the talks, and set Europe on a collision course with Trump by announcing she would use the meeting to defend the Paris agreement, which he has announced he will withdraw America from. Merkel acknowledged the difficulty of achieving any agreement on the issue, telling a press conference: “There are different opinions in this area because the U.S. regrettably wants to withdraw from the Paris accord.”
There were also awkward moments in talks on trade. In a discussion on protectionism, Trump stressed his “America first” policy and the need to protect American jobs, saying “all we ask for is a level playing field”.
He then sat down and crossed his arms, sitting with “a face like thunder,” said one diplomatic source, as President Xi Jinping of China spoke. Tillerson said the meeting ran on so long that at one point Melania Trump came in to check on progress.
“They even sent in the First Lady at one point to see if she could get us out of there, and that didn’t work either... We went another hour after,” Tillerson said.