The long anticipation of the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has come to an end when the leaders of the two most powerful countries in the world finally met today at the G20 Summit in Hamburg. The two presidents shook hands for the first time earlier today. They were smiling at each other, exchanging in friendly gestures, and saying a couple of words. It was unclear what they were saying to each other, but according to Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov, they told one another that they will meet later in private.
The poor relations between the two countries
There is no doubt that relations between Russia and the United States are at the lowest point since the Cold War and it is because of that fact that this meeting would certainly mark this year's G20 summit. Let's not forget that the reason for the poor relations is the direct Russian interference in the U.S. presidential elections held in November 2016. The whole world is set to see how Vladimir Putin will react to such accusations at the meeting with Trump scheduled for 3.45pm (2.45pm BST/9.45am ET).
To make matters even worse, the U.S. Senate has recently decided to sharpen the sanctions against Moscow. And the Senators made this decision even more complicated by openly threatening all the European companies that do business with Russia in the energetic field.
Also, it should be noted that it was only yesterday that the American President Donald Trump criticized Russia during his visit to Poland. He said that the whole Western world urges Russia to "cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere," and to stop supporting the "hostile regimes including Syria and Iran." Then he continued by adding that Russia should join forces with the U.S.
and the whole Western world in their fight against common enemies in the "defense of civilization itself," Reuters reported.
Meeting with other leaders at G20 summit
However interesting the meeting of the world's two most powerful leaders may seem to be, it should be noted that there will be other meetings in Hamburg as well.
It should definitely be interesting to see how Angela Merkel, Macron, and other European statesmen react to Donald Trump, given the fact that they have changed their rhetorics about Russia. Also, the arrival of the Chinese President Xi Jinping should be interesting as well given the fact the poor relations China and the U.S. have.
