Helsinki - US President Donald Trump sat down with Vladimir Putin for a long-awaited summit on Monday saying he wanted good relations with Russia, after blaming Washington's own past "foolishness and stupidity" for the countries' hostile ties.
"I've been saying, and I'm sure you've heard over the years...that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing," Trump said, seated next to Putin at the start of talks in an ornate presidential palace in neutral Finland.
Trump reached out to shake Putin's hand, before the media were ushered out. The two men were to meet alone apart from interpreters before a working lunch with aides. Trump said they would talk about a range of subjects, listing trade, the military, nuclear weapons and China.
But, at least in his public remarks at the outset, he mentioned none of the issues that have lately brought U.S.-Russian relations to the lowest point since the Cold War: Moscow's annexation of territory from Ukraine, its support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad, as well as Western accusations that it poisoned a spy in England and meddled in elections.
Instead, Trump saved his public criticism for his own country, tweeting before the summit: "Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!"
The Russian foreign ministry "liked" his tweet.
Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2018
The Kremlin has played down expectations. It said before the summit it did not expect much from the meeting but hoped it would be a "first step" to resolving a crisis in ties.
"Presidents Trump and Putin respect each other and they get along well," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "There is no clear agenda. It will be determined by the heads of state themselves as they go along."
While Trump has been abroad since last week, the special prosecutor investigating allegations that Russia interfered to help him win the 2016 presidential election indicted 12 Russians on Friday for stealing Democratic Party documents.
Critics and Trump's own advisers have urged Trump to use the summit to press Putin hard about "malign" activities.
"WHICH TEAM DO YOU PLAY FOR?"
Trump's foes at home have been scathing about his apparent refusal to criticise Putin. His 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Great World Cup. Question for President Trump as he meets Putin: Do you know which team you play for?"
Russia denies interfering in the U.S. presidential election. The state RIA news agency quoted a Russian source as saying Moscow was "ready to discuss, ready to undertake mutual obligations of non-intervention into internal matters".
Trump has said he will raise the election meddling but does not expect to get anywhere. He has repeatedly noted that Putin denies it, while also saying that it is alleged to have taken place before he became president.
For Putin, that the summit is even happening despite Russia's semi-pariah status among some Americans and U.S. allies is a geopolitical win.
The summit caps a trip abroad during which Trump sternly criticised NATO allies for failing to spend enough on their militaries and embarrassed British Prime Minister Theresa May by saying she refused to take his advice about how to negotiate Britain's exit from the EU. He referred to the European Union itself as a "foe" in trade, and repeatedly criticised it.
In some of the strongest words yet reflecting the unease of Washington's traditional allies, Germany's foreign minister said on Monday Europe could not rely on Trump.
"We can no longer completely rely on the White House," Heiko Maas told the Funke newspaper group. "To maintain our partnership with the USA we must readjust it. The first clear consequence can only be that we need to align ourselves even more closely in Europe."
Trump has predicted he will be accused of being too soft on Putin no matter how the summit goes. "If I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia...I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!" he tweeted on Sunday.