Putin-Trump summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018.

The two leaders mentioned the FBI’s charges of Russian intervention in the US presidential election, a possible extension of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the crisis in Syria, and the push for denuclearization in Iran and North Korea.

Agreement on core issues

At a press conference after the summit, President Trump shocked American politicians by defending Russia against charges of interference in the 2016 presidential election and called the investigation by US intelligence agencies a disaster.

After a reporter said Trump had called Putin a “rival,” the American President responded that he called Putin a good competitor. He said there will more constructive meetings with Putin in the future.

The two Presidents agreed to set up a high-level working group with business representatives of both countries for development of economic cooperation. They said they favor continued cooperation in counter-terrorism and cyber-security.  Russia suggested they fine-tune the dialogue on strategic stability, global security, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Putin told Trump that Russia is ready to extend the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), an agreement to limit the number of nuclear weapons and form a new monitoring mechanism that is now set to expire in 2021.

They agreed that Russia and the US can help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria. They discussed Iran’s deactivation of short- and medium- range missiles. Putin applauded progress on the Korean peninsula and Trump’s participation. Trump expressed his belief that Putin and Russia will work with the US to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issue and with Israel to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Trump said they spent together a very constructive few hours and that bilateral relations will change after the Helsinki summit.

Negative reaction from American politicians

American political experts were quick to condemn Trump’s warm embrace of Russia and Putin. Both Republican and Democrat senators and other officials strongly condemned the summit as a surrender to Russia, who is not America’s ally. Democratic leaders convened a meeting to criticize the summit. The US intelligence community released a statement rebuking Trump’s rejection of their finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 American presidential election.

Analysts say the US Congress may block agreements that Trump signs with Russia. It’s too early to be confident about future Russia-US cooperation projects. At any rate, the Putin-Trump summit was a step toward building trust between the two world powers.

Hong Van