Vladimir Putin: I wanted Donald Trump to win US election

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted President Donald Trump to win the 2016 election because he believed Trump's policies would be more friendly to the Kremlin.

"Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the US-Russia relationship back to normal," Putin said, standing alongside Trump at a joint news conference. Donald Trump also blamed bad relations between Moscow and Washington on the US investigation into alleged Russian election meddling - and Russia promptly agreed. Putin was asked whether he directed any of his officials to help Trump's presidential campaign, but Putin appeared to sidestep that part of the question.

Thousands of Helsinki protesters demonstrated against Putin and Trump. About 2,500 people demonstrated in support of human rights and environment. Pics/AFP and AP

Setting the scene just hours ahead of his summit with Vladimir Putin, Trump took to Twitter to lash out at US special prosecutor Robert Mueller's probe. The US president declared that the investigation had been a "disaster" for the US.

Meanwhile, Putin said Moscow had never interfered in the US electoral process. "Trump touched on the theme of Russian interference in US elections. I had to repeat what I have already said many times before - the Russian state has never interfered and is not planning to interfere in the USA's internal affairs," Putin said. "I think it's a good start: very, very good start for everybody," Trump said after meeting Putin for more than two hours.

'25 mn cyberattacks thwarted during WC'
Moscow: Vladimir Putin says Russian and other security services thwarted nearly 25 million cyberattacks linked to the World Cup. Putin's announced came just before a meeting with Donald Trump, who is facing concerns about alleged Kremlin meddling on the US electoral system.

Paraglider charged in Trump resort flight
London: A man has been charged in connection with a Greenpeace protest that breached a no-fly security zone and flew a banner close to the golf resort where Donald Trump was staying, Scottish police has said.

Iran: If Trump wants to talk, he'll have to call
Tehran: Iran says if Donald Trump wants to negotiate after pulling US out of the deal meant to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, he'll have to make the call. Trump had said, "At a certain point they're [Iran] going to call me and say 'let's make a deal,' and we'll make a deal".

Calling EU a US foe is 'fake news': Tusk
Brussels: EU President Donald Tusk suggested that US President Donald Trump was "spreading fake news" by calling Europe a US foe and urged the Trump-Putin summit on Monday to protect the world order.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever