Trump-Putin presser causes uproar

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his first one-on-one meeting with US President Donald Trump as "successful and useful", while Trump complimented Putin as a "good competitor" after their two-hour closed-door discussions in Helsinki on Monday.

The meeting rounded off a controversial trip to Europe for Trump, on which he had a fractious meeting with NATO leaders in Brussels. His visit to the United Kingdom provoked massive public protests.

Trump also had to deal with the news coming from back home that 12 Russian officials had been charged with hacking the 2016 US elections, allegations that Moscow has categorically rejected.

Trump told reporters he "spent a great deal of time" talking about the allegation with Putin, while Putin denied any interference in US internal affairs.

Trump said that he had "great confidence" in US intelligence but that Putin's denial of election meddling was "extremely strong and powerful".

"Could you name a single fact that would definitively prove the collusion? This is nonsense," Putin said, adding, "There's no evidence when it comes to the actual facts; we have to be guided by facts, not by rumors."

In the US, Trump has faced a barrage of criticism, including from US lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties for his comments at the news conference with Putin following the Helsinki summit.

US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said: "In the history of our country, Americans have never seen a president of the United States support an adversary in the way Trump supported President Putin."

But Senator Rand Paul said it's important for the US to keep an open dialogue with its adversaries, especially if it hopes to motivate them to change their behavior.

"We should look for ways to make the dialogue better," the Republican from Kentucky said.

"As I said today and many times before, I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people," Trump tweeted on Monday. "However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past — as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!"

Speaking at the news conference that was delayed after a protester was removed from the room, Putin said that concrete proposals had been made on arms control and that Russia was ready to cooperate on fighting terrorism and on cybersecurity.

Russia admitted to concerns over the withdrawal of the United States from the Iranian nuclear deal, but Putin spoke optimistically, saying, "The Cold War is over; the US and Russia need to solve problems together."

Trump said that this first summit with the Russian president was not just a stand-alone event, but "the beginning of a longer process with strong dialogue with Russia".

Julian Shea and Wang Mingjie in London, and Chen Weihua in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at julian@ mail.chinadailyuk.com