A nod and a wink… and Cold War ends

The pair pledged to thaw relations between the two countries, which the US President said “has never been worse” but “that changed as of about four hours ago.”

Mr Trump, who gave Mr Putin a wink, branded discussions “successful” and the Russian leader admitted that he had wanted Mr Trump to win the 2016 presidential election, although denied any interference in the vote.

Mr Putin said during the joint press conference staged in Helsinki, Finland: “The negotiations with Donald Trump has been held in a sincere and straightforward manner. They have been successful.

“Bilateral ties are undergoing a difficulty phrase but theses difficulties do not have any objective grounds. The Cold War is over, ideological confrontation is in the past.”

He added: “We are in favour of continuing cooperation in the sphere of the fight against terror and ensuring cyber security.

“We are content with the results of our meeting. Previously we only briefly met. We had a good talk and hopefully we understand each other better. I’m thankful to Donald. We’ve made an important first step.”

Crimea, Syria, Iran and global terrorism and nuclear arms control were all on the table for discussion during the talks. Mr Trump, who winked at the Russian leader after a private meeting together, made clear his hopes for an “extraordinary relationship” in future.

The US President also made clear getting along with Russia would be a “good thing, not a bad thing.

“If we are going to solve many of the problems facing our world, we will have to find ways to cooperate.

“We made the first steps towards a brighter future, grounded on cooperation and peace,” he said.

“Refusing to engage will not accomplish anything.”

Ahead of the meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, the US President took to Twitter to blame Washington for the frosty relations between the two countries.

He tweeted: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”

Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs tweeted back “we agree” in response to the comment from the President.

Mr Putin kept Mr Trump waiting for their 90-minute meeting as he arrived late from playing host at the World Cup Final in Moscow the night before.

It led observers to suggest Mr Putin was very much in charge of the talks. However, he was quickly forced to deny he held compromising material on Mr Trump as “sheer nonsense.” He also addressed the issue of alleged Russian interference in US elections, including the presidential election in 2016.

US intelligence agencies believe the Kremlin acted to influence the vote and helped Mr Trump defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Mr Putin said: “I had to repeat the Russian state never interfered, and does not plan to interfere in internal American electoral process.”

Mr Trump backed Mr Putin in his denials. “He just said it’s not Russia,” he said.

“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

The Russian president did admit he had wanted Mr Trump to win “because he talked about normalising Russian-American relations”.

Their meeting comes days after the US Justice Department indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers for their role in hacking Democratic entities during the 2016 presidential campaign. Fears were raised that Moscow’s aggression may go unchallenged.

In the US Congress, both Democratic and Republican members condemned Mr Trump’s decision to attend the summit in the wake of the hacking claims. But he went ahead with the summit in spite of the opposition.

He said during the press conference: “We have a lot of good things to talk about.

“We have discussions on everything from trade to military, to missiles, to nuclear, to China, we’ll be talking a little bit about China – our mutual friend President Xi. 

“I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that frankly we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years. I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. I’ve been saying over the years… that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing.

“I think the world wants to see us get along.We are the two great nuclear powers. We have ninety per cent of the nuclear – and that’s not a good thing it’s a bad thing. We all have a lot of questions and hopefully, we will come up with answers.”

Mr Trump, who frequently looked at his Russian counterpart, added: “It is great to be with you.”

No mention was made in public of a series of issues, which have led to US-Russian relations to fall to its lowest point since the Cold War.

This is due to Moscow’s annexation of territory from Ukraine, its support for Syria’s President Bashar Assad and claims nerve agent novichok was used to poison ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in March.

The leaders first met alone in the Finnish presidential palace’s Gothic Hall before aides joined them. Concerns were raised about them meeting alone but for interpreters, over fears what was discussed may not be accurately reflected.

Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute who specialises in Russia, Ukraine and disinformation, said: “Russia’s done nothing to deserve us meeting them in this way.”

Last night, the US Justice Department confirmed a Russian woman was charged with infiltrating US political organisations at the direction of a senior Kremlin official.