As it happened - Trump and Putin's landmark meeting

Summary

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have been holding their first official talks in Helsinki, Finland
The meeting came days after the US charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking
Mr Trump defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election
He contradicted US intelligence agencies and said there had been no reason for Russia to meddle

Live Reporting

Flora Drury, David Molloy, Ritu Prasad and Alexandra Fouché

Body language speaks volumespublished at 16:21 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
This from our White House reporter, Tara McKelvey:
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Putin addresses Russia meddling allegationspublished at 16:20 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
"The Russian state has never interfered, and is never going to interfere" in external elections, Putin says.
Trump brought it up, he said.
Putin applauds Trump's North Korea talkspublished at 16:20 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
Mr Putin also called for more cooperation in Syria, where military strategy between the two nations has sometimes been at odds.
He also lauded the “personal engagement” of Mr Trump in the Korean peninsula - which resulted in talks with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un.
But he said they did not agree on all issues.
Putin: As nuclear powers, we bear responsibilitypublished at 16:15 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
Vladimir Putin spoke first, and said he had made firm proposals on arms control.
“As nuclear powers, we bear special responsibility” for international security, he said.
He said Russia considered it necessary for the two countries to work together on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation – and to avoid weapons being placed in space.
Here they are:published at 16:12 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
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Trump-Putin press conference beginspublished at 16:10 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
This is where things get exciting, if previous press conferences involving the US president are anything to go by.
'A terrible moment'published at 16:10 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
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Watch the press conference livepublished at 16:09 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
We've embedded a live stream of the press conference in the video player at the top of our live page, if you'd like to follow along.
Journalist dragged out of conference roompublished at 16:08 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
A man was just bundled out of the room by security, waving a stack of paper.
Our reporter in the room identified him as a journalist working for The Nation (from the US) - and apparently the US Secret Service took part in his removal.
Not yet clear why.
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A room with a view...published at 16:03 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
The BBC's Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg tweets:
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The world is waitingpublished at 15:55 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
It's the only show in town this afternoon - we are all waiting for this press conference to start.
Each of the news wires are running pictures from inside the room where it will begin imminently:
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The Trump-Putin press conference is about to start...published at 15:37 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
The last time President Vladimir Putin held a joint press conference with a US leader was way back in 2008.
He missed the 2009 and 2010 sessions because he was prime minister at the time.
Expectations are high.
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Former CIA director: What is Trump hiding?published at 15:31 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
John Brennan, the director of the CIA from 2013 to 2017, has tweeted about today's meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin - and he isn't happy:
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Former ambassador: Blame America Firstpublished at 15:19 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
Michael McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia for two years during Barack Obama's presidency, has been tweeting his reaction to the day's events so far.
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Reporters get ready for press conferencepublished at 15:16 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
A "valiant" official is trying to herd reporters into the room where Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will be speaking this afternoon.
It is not necessarily an easy job, tweets Tara McKelvey:
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Does this mean a press conference is imminent?
Trump-Putin lunch: Who is who?published at 15:13 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
Image source, AFP
While Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are enjoying a delayed lunch, let's take a look at who else is at the table.
So, going along the American side, we have:
- Russia expert Fiona Hill
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
- US President Donald Trump
- US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman
- National Security Adviser John Bolton
- Out of shot is John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff
On the Russian side, we have:
- Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov
- Foreign policy aide to president Yuri Ushakov
- Russian President Vladimir Putin
- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
- Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov
- Head of North America dept of Russian foreign affairs ministry Georgy Borisenko
Trump will talk about election meddling - officialpublished at 14:55 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
Donald Trump will bring up meddling in the 2016 election, a US official has told the BBC's Tara McKelvey.
He will also bring up the issue of the annexation of Crimea, she tweeted:
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Mr Trump mentioned neither of these things when he outlined what the two would be discussing earlier.
It is also not on the list of topics given out by the Russian Embassy in the US a short while ago.
However, if he does address the election issue, it will likely calm some of his critics who are tweeting using the hashtag #TreasonSummit.
Trump: First talks 'a good start'published at 14:44 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
As the two presidents sat down for their working (and very late) lunch, Mr Trump said his private meeting was a "very good start".
No hints were given as to what was discussed.
Trump-Putin closed doors talks endpublished at 14:37 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
In the last few minutes, Russian news agency Interfax reported that it has finally ended - with pictures from the venue showing diplomats sitting down to lunch.
Journalists had been told the the one-on-one meeting between the presidents was still ongoing after two hours.
That means it ran over time by more than half-an-hour. It was also more than an hour late starting - and is due to be followed by a second meeting involving other senior officials.
So exactly when the press conference - which should have started almost 10 minutes ago - will take place remains unclear.
A tale of two agendaspublished at 14:19 British Summer Time 16 July 2018
This meeting had no formal agenda, but the Russian embassy in Washington DC has tweeted what it says are the planned topics:
- Normalising bilateral relations
- Ukraine
- Syria
- The Korean peninsula
- Terrorism
Mr Trump mentioned none of these in his own remarks - pointing instead to trade, China, military issues, and nuclear proliferation.
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