President Trump emerged Monday form a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin with an upbeat assessment of the talks.
“I think it’s a good start — a very good start for everybody,” Mr. Trump told reporters as the U.S. and Russian delegations kicked off a bilateral meeting in Helsinki, Finland.
The private meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin lasted more than two hours.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold a joint press conference following the bilateral meeting.
On the eve of the summit, Mr. Trump set low expectations for the talks.
Earlier Monday, Mr. Trump sketched out a framework for one-on-one talk with Mr. Putin. He did not mention election interference, despite indictments last week of 12 Russian military intelligence officers for hacking the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
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“We have a lot of good things to talk about,” Mr. Trump said before reporters were ushered out of the room. “We have discussions on everything from trade to military to missiles to nuclear to China.”
The president was expected to press Mr. Putin on areas of conflict, from election meddling to the annexation of Crimea and the wars in Syria and Ukraine.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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