Donald Trump hails dialogue with Vladimir Putin as ‘deeply productive’

US President Donald Trump declared today that US-Russian relations have turned a corner after a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that he described as "open, direct and deeply productive".

"Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago. I really believe that," Trump told a Helsinki news conference after a day of talks with Putin.

Putin after his summit with Trump in Helsinki said,''As major nuclear powers, we (Russia and the US) bear a special responsibility for maintaining international security.''

''I think we can call it a success and a very fruitful round of negotiations...The cold war is a thing of the past,'' he said.

''We had a good conversation with Pres. Trump & I hope we start to understand each other better and I'm grateful to Donald for it. Clearly, there are some challenges left, we were not able to clear all the backlog, but I think we made the first important step. Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me or I trust him? He defends the interest of the United States of America & I do defend the interest of Russian Federation,'' Putin said.

Trump said,''The crisis in Syria is a complex one. Cooperation b/w our 2 countries has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. I also made clear that US won't allow Iran to take benefit from our successful campaign against ISIS.''

'Where did you get this idea that President Trump trusts me or I trust him? He defends the interest of the United States of America & I do defend the interest of Russian Federation,'' Putin said.

Putin said,''President Trump has just mentioned that Russia has just concluded the World football cup. Speaking of the football, Mr President, I will give this ball to you and now the ball is in your court. All the more that the US will host the World cup in 2026.''