Vladimir Putin held a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg. Russia’s President revealed to the journalists details of the meeting with Trump, what the top leaders discussed during the summit and even whether Russia plans on meddling in the German elections.
“The development of global economy was the main issue we were focused on,” Putin told reporters.
The money laundering was the second most important topic of this summit. Another important subject the leaders discussed during the G20 summit in Hamburg was fighting against terrorism.
“We also discussed the climate change,” Putin said.
“There were other issues we were looked at, for example digital economy,” Vladimir Putin said. “We need to develope the system of security rules for the digital economy,” the Russian president added.
Another issue the leaders discussed was girls’ education.
Putin expressed hope that the G20 summit will help to improve the situation in the global economy.
Speaking about the position of Russian economy on the global arena, Vladimir Putin said that Russia is not affected by sanctions. “We discussed free trade and fighting protectionism. So, we’re making progress. Our progress is not as huge as we hoped,” Putin said, adding that “Russian economy is obviously growing.”
“Russian economy crew by 3% in May,” the president noted.
“We have low unemployment rate,” Putin said. “Our Federal revenue are grown by 40%. All this mad us quietly optimistic.”
On Russia’s alleged meddling in US elections
“We dicussed this issue,” Putin said, speaking about the meeting with Trump.
We agreed to set up a joint group to work on cybersecurity, the president added.
President Trump asked a lot of questions about Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, Vladimir Putin answered all of them.
On Russia-Ukraine relations
“I believe, the interests of Russian and Ukrainian people totally coincide,” Vladimir Putin said.
On situation in MidEast
The Qatari diplomatic crisis was not closely discussed at the summit, but “everybody realizes that this situation could be a threat.”
Answering the question about prospects of Syrian solution, Putin said that he is optimistic about this. The Russian president discussed the issue with Donald Trump.
“We should be looking into a compromise. We have de-escalation zones, we discuss them. It’s a great breakthrough,” Putin said.
“It’s boring, but extremely important work to ensure Syria’s territorial integrity,” Vladimir Putin said.
Commenting on Tillerson’s remark on future of Bashar Assad, Putin said it’s up on Syrian people to decide their future.
On relations with Germany
“Germany is our main trade partner,” Putin told reporters answering the question about Russia’s plans to meddle in German elections. “Why should we do that?”