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Trump called the talks with Putin "a good start"
MOSCOW, July 16 - RIA Novosti. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump held the first full-format meeting in Helsinki.
Their conversation lasted a total of four hours. It began with a tete-a-tete meeting, which took longer than anticipated. The head of the United States immediately after the meeting saw it as positive.
"This is a good start, this is a good start for everyone," Trump said before the working lunch, which was attended by representatives of both delegations.
After the negotiations in an expanded format, the leaders of the two countries held a joint press conference.
The Cold War is behind us
The Russian president took the floor first. He noted that the talks were held in a frank and businesslike atmosphere. According to him, the meeting was successful and useful for Moscow and Washington.
Putin also stressed that the difficulties and tense atmosphere in bilateral relations have no objective reasons. He recalled that the Cold War had long since ended.
"The era of sharp ideological confrontation between the two countries has gone far into the past, the situation in the world has changed dramatically," Putin said during a press conference.
Now Moscow and Washington are facing other challenges, the head of state said. Among the new threats is the balancing of international security mechanisms, as well as the spread of terrorism. Putin expressed the hope that Russia and the United States will find solutions to these problems.
In addition, the Russian leader during the meeting recalled examples of successful bilateral cooperation.
"The most recent example is close operational interaction with a group of American security experts in the framework of the World Cup, which ended yesterday in Russia," he said.
Offers in Moscow
During the meeting, the Russian side made several initiatives. The delegation, in particular, conveyed its proposals on cooperation with the United States in the field of strategic stability and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
"I think it's important - we talked about it - to debug a dialogue on the issues of strategic stability and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." We handed a note to our American counterparts with a number of concrete proposals on this topic, "the Russian president said.
In addition, the head of state said the need to work together with Washington, the entire complex of military-political and disarmament dossiers.
Among the proposals voiced by the Russian side during the summit in the Finnish capital - and the re-establishment of a working group on antiterror.
"Contacts on the line of special services are useful to move to a system basis," Putin said.
What Trump said
The American leader positively assessed the meeting with his Russian counterpart.
"I just finished the discussion with President Putin on a wide range of issues critical for our countries, we had a direct, open, very productive dialogue," Trump said.
He stressed that ties with Russia are important for the United States and the world. The American president also said that states should find an opportunity to cooperate if they really want to improve the situation in the world.
Trump also stressed that the relationship between Moscow and Washington was at the lowest point, but the meeting with Putin was a turning point, which will move to a better future.
"Nothing will be simple, but it's better than rejecting the possibility of meeting." It's better to take political risks to achieve peace and stability, "he said.
The US president also noted that he would rather take political risk in the interests of peace than he would risk the world for the sake of politics. He expressed the hope that the US and Russia will be able to solve all the problems that were discussed at the summit in Helsinki.
Trump also said that he discussed with Putin the so-called "interference" of Russia in the US elections in 2016.
"We spent a lot of time discussing this," Trump said.
According to him, Putin responded to the concerns of the American side "very convincingly." The President of the United States stressed that his Russian colleague was confident that there had been no "interference".
There is still no evidence of the alleged influence of Russia on the American elections.
Response of the State Duma
In Russia they are counting on the return of full-format cooperation with the United States, but it's not worth falling into euphoria on the results of the first summit, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the State Duma's international affairs committee, said.
"Based on the joint press conference, we can conclude that the leaders of the United States and Russia on many issues on the international agenda decided to continue cooperation, including on key international dossiers," the parliamentarian said. He admitted that he would like to believe that this is not just a temporary "convergence of courses," but a real basis for renewing contacts.
"But while I would not fall into euphoria following the results of the first full-scale summit and make unnecessarily bouncy conclusions," Slutsky said. He stressed that the coming weeks will show whether the cooperation between Moscow and Washington has resumed or not.
Now, as well as after the previous meetings of the two leaders, hope, expectations and hopes for improving relations are possible, the deputy noted. However, in his opinion, "realities can be more prosaic."
Slutsky suggested that this is due to the internal political situation in the United States, including the upcoming midterm elections to Congress.
"Nevertheless, in many respects, the positions of Russia and the United States can be reduced to a common denominator," he added. According to him, Moscow expects the resumption of full-format cooperation and considers this a key and important task.
