Nine sticking points for Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at Helsinki summit
US and Russian presidents may swap compliments at their first summit in Helsinki on Monday, but they are deeply divided on issues including Syria, Ukraine and alleged Russian election-meddling
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump will meet in Finland on Monday for their first one-on-one summit.
They will meet at 10:20 GMT (6:20pm Hong Kong time) and were expected to hold a joint press conference at 9:30pm Hong Kong time.
With relations between their two countries at lows not seen since the cold war, the pair will have their work cut out to bring anything positive out of the meeting.
Here is a summary of the sticking points between the two powers:
Russian ‘meddling’
Since the start of Trump’s presidency, relations have been tainted by allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election and suspicions that the billionaire’s campaign team colluded with the Kremlin.
Russia has denied any interference. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has insisted that Trump at his meeting with Putin “will make clear that meddling in our elections is completely unacceptable”.