Trump-Putin summit to be held in Finland on 16 July

AFP

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will hold a summit in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, next month.

They will meet on 16 July and discuss relations between the two countries and a "range of national security issues", the White House said.

The summit was announced on Wednesday after US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Mr Putin met in Moscow.

The two leaders last met in November in Vietnam at an Asia-Pacific summit.

Speaking earlier about the summit, Mr Trump said he would discuss the war in Syria and the situation in Ukraine with his Russian counterpart.

After meeting Mr Putin, Mr Bolton told reporters that his visit had been at the request of Mr Trump who wanted to explore "the possibility of a meeting".

Both leaders wanted to use the summit to improve relations between their countries, Mr Bolton said.

"Both President Trump and President Putin feel that it's important for these two leaders of these two critically important countries to get together and discuss their mutual problems and areas of co-operation," he added.

"It's something that I think both feel will contribute to improvements in the US-Russia bilateral relationship and in stability around the world."

President Putin said his meeting with Mr Bolton had raised hopes for a full restoration of relations, which he admitted were not in the best of shape.

Mr Putin insisted Moscow had never sought confrontation and that, in his view, the poor state of relations was a result of fierce political confrontation inside the US itself.

BBC