US President Donald Trump will meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin later on Monday, ending a tumultuous European tour in which he criticised his allies.
Mr Trump said he had “low expectations” ahead of the talks in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, but added that “maybe some good” would come of them.
The summit comes after 12 Russians were charged with hacking in the 2016 US elections.
Mr Trump says he will raise the issue, but there is no formal agenda.
The two leaders will meet one-on-one, and will be joined only by their interpreters. It is the first-ever summit between Mr Putin and Mr Trump – although they have previously met on the sidelines of multilateral talks.
There have been calls in the US for Mr Trump to cancel the meeting altogether over the indictments of Russian military intelligence agents, announced on Friday.
Russia denies the allegations, and says it is looking forward to the talks as a vehicle for improving relations.
What will be discussed?
US National Security Adviser John Bolton has said both sides have agreed the meeting will have no set agenda.
But he said he found it “hard to believe” Mr Putin did not know about the alleged election hacking and the subject would be mentioned.
“That’s what one of the purposes of this meeting is, so the president can see eye to eye with President Putin and ask him about it,” he told ABC News.
Mr Trump has also been urged to raise the poisoning of two people in the UKwho came into contact with the nerve agent Novichok. Investigators believe the incident is linked to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in March.
Mr Trump elaborated on what will be discussed at the summit during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May last week.
“We’ll be talking about Syria,” he said. “We’ll be talking about other parts of the Middle East. I will be talking about nuclear proliferation.”
What are the US hacking allegations?
The 11-count indictment names the Russians defendants, alleging they began cyber-attacks in March 2016 on the email accounts of staff for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
They are accused of using keystroke-reading software to spy on the chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and hack into the party’s computers.
Top Democrats including party chairman Tom Perez have urged Mr Trump to abandon the talks, saying Mr Putin was “not a friend of the United States”.
On the Republican side, Senator John McCain said the summit “should not move forward” unless the president “is prepared to hold Putin accountable”.
But on Monday, Mr Trump blamed his predecessors’ “stupidity” and the “rigged” US inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the election fir the deterioration of ties with Moscow.
Source: BBC
