Trump: Ties With Russia Have Never Been Worse Due to Years of 'US Foolishness'

© AFP 2018 / Patrick Kovarik

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09:14 16.07.2018(updated 10:27 16.07.2018)Get short URL

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Just a few hours before the start of the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US president harshly criticized Washington's policy toward Moscow and the "Russia probe" against him as damaging bilateral relations.

US President Donald Trump slammed the actions of his predecessor, saying on his Twitter that Barack Obama didn't properly address reports of the alleged "Russian meddling" in the 2016 Presidential elections, adding that the issue was politically motivated from the very beginning.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

President Obama thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election, so when he was informed by the FBI about Russian Meddling, he said it couldn’t happen, was no big deal, & did NOTHING about it. When I won it became a big deal and the Rigged Witch Hunt headed by Strzok!

6:37 AM - Jul 16, 2018

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• 17.4K people are talking about this

He also stated that the investigation of the alleged Russian interference was one of the reasons behind the worsening relations between Moscow and Washington over the last few years.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!

7:05 AM - Jul 16, 2018

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Probe Into Alleged Election Meddling

Last week the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 12 Russian citizens, who allegedly worked for the Russian intelligence service, with involvement in the 2016 presidential elections. They were accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign.

READ MORE: ‘Hurry the F*ck Up': Strzok, Page Tried to Speed Trump Probe Before Election

Addressing the statement, Trump told reporters that he may ask his Russian counterpart to extradite people indicted as part of the probe.

The charges were presented just a few days before the long-awaited Putin-Trump Summit in Helsinki, which is set to start on Monday.

Agenda of the Helsinki Summit

Trump, Putin to Have 1st Full-Fledged Summit in Attempt to Heal Breaches in Ties

© Sputnik / Michael Klimentyev

HELSINKI (Sputnik) - The presidents of Russia and the United States will for the first time travel specifically to meet each other tete-a-tete in Finland, arousing hopes for an emerging common ground on a number of issues of global importance, on which the two sides hold opposite opinions.

The Helsinki summit on Monday, July 16, will be the first ever full-fledged meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The two heads of state previously held brief talks twice in 2017, on the sidelines of the G20 and APEC summits.

AGENDA

The range of issues that the United States and Russia need to discuss is so broad that speculations about the possible agenda, which has not been set out or announced officially, have been mentioning everything — from the obvious issue of Russia's alleged meddling in the US election to the less obvious, but no less important energy cooperation.

© SPUTNIK / MICHAIL KLIMENTJEW

White House Announces Scheduled Time of Putin-Trump Helsinki Press Conference

However, there are some topics that, according to the majority of experts, will be impossible to overlook. One such issue is the situation in Syria. According to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, it is going to be one of the central topics at Monday's summit. Political normalization, economic recovery of the country, the launch of the constitutional process and return of refugees are the areas where Russia is ready to work together with the United States, Ushakov said.