THE dark cloud of collusion allegations hangs heavily over the upcoming US-Russia presidential summit. But President Donald Trump seems oblivious to the coming storm.

He’s insisting on a quiet one-on-one chat, away from the ears of the aides who almost always accompany such high-stakes diplomatic meetings.

There will be no notes taken. No official records made.

There will be no witnesses to what takes place between them.

So there will be no evidence of any agreements reached or compromises being made.

A Kremlin spokesman has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump are likely to meet in private during their upcoming summit in Helsinki.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters that if both sides agree, Putin and Trump could meet without their aides before the meeting officially starts on July 16.

Peskov says, “President Putin feels absolutely comfortable in all formats that are comfortable for his interlocutors” and the Kremlin “doesn’t rule out” such a meeting.

The Kremlin said Putin did not plan to meet US politicians who are visiting Russia this week.

A US congressional delegation is in Moscow meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian parliamentarians. Relations between Russia and the US have sunk to their lowest point in decades amid US sanctions over Russian meddling in the US election and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

But, mostly, all eyes will be on Presidents Trump and Putin’s behaviour.

‘KOMPROMAT’ CLAIMS
In everybody’s mind will be allegations Moscow holds the threat of ‘kompromat’ — compromising evidence — over Trump. An intelligence dossier compiled by British agent Christopher Steele claims the property tycoon was secretly recorded in a high-class Moscow hotel engaged in sex-games with prostitutes, and ordering them to urinate in a bed President Obama had slept in.

Trump was there for the 2013 Miss Universe competition, held in conjunction with Russian oligarch — and close Putin pal — Aras Agalarov.

The Agalarov name emerged again in 2016, with his pop-star son organising a meeting between Trump Jr and a lawyer with Kremlin ties over alleged ‘dirt’ that could smear Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

But ongoing revelations of extensive ties between Moscow and the Trump family, his 2016 election campaign and key advisers is casting a deepening pall over his Presidency.

Any collusion between a US President and a foreign power would spark a constitutional crisis.

And special investigator Rober Meuller has been relentlessly chasing down every lead.

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE’S FIRE?
A US Senate committee said overnight that intelligence agencies’ assessment of Russian activities during the 2016 presidential election was based on “sound” analysis.

It was not swayed by politics, despite President Trump’s claims, they said.

The January 2017 intelligence assessment said Russian activities in the run-up to the presidential election represented a “significant escalation” in a long history of Russian attempts to interfere in US domestic politics, the committee said.

The intelligence agencies found that Russians had engaged in cyber-espionage and distributed messages through Russian-controlled propaganda outlets to undermine public faith in the democratic process, “denigrate” Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and develop a “clear preference” for Donald Trump.

But the Senate intelligence committee’s report comes as Trump continues to cast doubt on whether Russians interfered in the presidential election.

He’s repeatedly appears to accept denials from President Putin and key Moscow powerbrokers at face value.

Late last month, Trump tweeted: “Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!”

DUELLING COMMITTEES
Earlier this year, Republicans on the House intelligence committee concluded there was no collusion or co-ordination between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. Democrats on the House panel sharply disagreed, saying the Republican-controlled panel had not interviewed enough witnesses or gathered enough evidence to make a definitive assessment.

Now, the US Senate committee says it has perused thousands of pages of documents and conducted interviews with relevant parties that helped the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency compile its review about Russian meddling.

Committee chairman Senator Richard Burr said the panel spent 16 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work underpinning the intelligence community assessment and sees “no reason to dispute the conclusions.”

“In all the interviews of those who drafted and prepared the ICA (intelligence community assessment), the committee heard consistently that analysts were under no politically motivated pressure to reach any conclusions,” the committee said.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the panel thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the intelligence agencies’ work leading up to its assessment.

“The Russian effort was extensive and sophisticated, and its goals were to undermine public faith in the democratic process, to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Donald Trump,” Warner said.