No secret deals reached between United States, Russia: Envoy

Moscow, July 18: The Presidents of Russia and the US did not arrive at any secret agreements during their summit in Finland, the Russian Ambassador to the US said on Wednesday. Anatoly Antonov’s statement came amid a backlash against comments made by US President Donald Trump over Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, an accusation that US intelligence agencies have confirmed but Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied on multiple occasions. Talking about the Trump-Putin summit, Antonov said: “There are no secret agreements reached at the meetings held in Helsinki, as far as I know.” He said economic cooperation between both countries had been discussed between the leaders, but sanctions against Russia were not addressed. Antonov said Russia would try to help Trump normalize bilateral relations, but admitted it would not be easy for the US President. (IANS)