The divergences between Trump and Putin

US President faces allegations that former members of his team would have had contact with senior Russian officials


The first meeting between the presidents of the United States, Donald Trump, and Russia, Vladimir Putin, is looked forward to. The international press follows the movements of both leaders who are expected to meet today (7) throughout the day during the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. The agency France Presse has announced that the two have already greeted each other today with a handshake at the summit.

The expectation of both parties is high according to interlocutors from both countries. On the American side, President Donald Trump faces charges that former members of his team would have had contact with senior Russian officials. The FBI has been investigating since last year the interference of Russian hackers in the election, which the FBI report would have harmed former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the race with Trump.

Trump himself was accused of calling for investigations into Russian interference to be dropped. According to former FBI director James Comey, his refusal to abandon investigations would have been the reason for his dismissal.

Donald Trump denies the allegations, but so far there have been no clear explanations either of the allegations involving his direct advisers or of Comey's indictment of the request to discontinue investigations.

Yesterday (6) Trump admitted that Russia may have interfered in the elections, but sought to downplay the importance of the fact by saying that "other countries" may have done so.

Trump faces internal pressures for a "response" regarding Russian interference. On the other hand Russia has already signaled that it wants the normalization of dialogue. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, "Russia longs for a resumption of tense relations."

The most critical point in the Trump era was the decision to attack a military base in Syria after a chemical attack in April. Russia that is allied with the Syrian government did not like it and at the time said that was the "worst moment of relations."


Both countries have disagreements to fight the extremist Islamic state group.