well the russian media have been really referring to this summit as historic but on the other hand we've also seen various politicians kind of playing down expectations so it's it's definitely a bit of a mix of things but i think that the russians russians here on the streets as it were would certainly be happy to see you know an improvement in relations between russia and the u.s. people here you know have have been recent months and you know even last year as well continuously kind of concerned about the fact that russia is always as they see it blamed for everything on the international stage and i think that people would be happy to see kind of russia's role changing there and i think both in the media as well as on the streets people will be hopeful that perhaps that kind of change could take place as a result of this meeting or or at least that it could set off a process that that could change russia's status in the world's eyes and of course

russia has just come out of the world cup where russia russians you know everywhere across the country could kind of present a different side to the country so i think perhaps people here are hoping that russia's image could change in the long term as a result of this meeting as well and for viewers who are perhaps just joining us we just want to remind them that we've been watching this summit about to get started in helsinki an historic summit between donald trump and lattimer putin about to take place and vladimir putin arrive a little bit earlier donald trump just arriving at the presidential palace in helsinki as he arrived we should say donald trump tweeted that our relations with russia have never been worse thanks to many years of u.s. foolishness and stupidity and and he called tyson as you're nodding your head here at this review of this ring sorry witchhunt these questions of allegations of

russian meddling. in the u.s. election and hearing and we talk about you know the points of contention between these two sides how important is it for donald trump to really talk about this issue with lattimer put in because a lot of people at home are going to be expecting him to confront bottom are you talking about the election battle yes well you know he's had several polls with about a where putin obviously he met with in hamburg last year each time there was a chorus call from both sides of the aisle bipartisan to bring this up and to ask what kind of actions would be taken to acknowledge the fact that they had interfered in the u.s. elections and what will be taken to make sure that doesn't happen again and he was quite soft in his questioning he said you know he asked did you meddle in elections . and said that he did not and he came out afterwards and said i took him for his word that follows a certain pattern that president trump has also domestically when it comes to beleaguered allies allies under attack by allegations we see that right now with

jim jordan for example in ohio congressman who is being accused of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse at a university we saw that in the case of roy moore so this follows a pattern that donald trump has been engaged in but i expect him to ask the question but i do not expect him to push it one of the issues as you said tyson where there's a difference between the administration and the u.s. government right there is this just disconnect between the president as government on the unity of nato but also on the question of crimea we do have our correspondent in kiev nick connelly standing by for us and nick a lot of people there of course watching this summit and helsinki very closely as well what are people there expecting you know sumi well this definitely is going to be a nail biter couple of hours until we hear more what is comes out of these. talks i think the real fear is that. president trump show move some ground he's been very vague about crimea in the weeks that have run up to this meeting

he was pressed repeatedly and basically said we'll wait and see he's refused to categorically say that there will not be recognition u.s. recognition for russia's defector control of crimea. having said that on the fringes of the nato summit last week there was a meeting between ukraine's present poroshenko and president trump and they were spreading the message that from their point of view they're really hoping and expecting that nothing really much will come out of this this is about dialogue so the hope here from kiev will be that this is just the beginning of a wider process and that we don't get too much in the way of specific concessions to the russian side so that's the hope but you know how worried people are people there the trial might actually make these concessions on crimea without consulting that. well that's what makes this meeting so scary is the free format the sort of free flowing through much of all this there's no set agenda the two men will be in

a room together with only that translators and no devices advisors who could maybe draw out the consequences of any kind of concessions that present trump might want to make to the russian side so that definitely something that is seen as very risky here in kiev. we shouldn't forget the real cause concern was comments that were reported to be made by president trump at the g seventy where he said that he. crimea is russians people spoke the russian language there this is a see these weren't comments made publicly but they were widely reported that some of something that went down very badly here sees crimea as an integral part of its territory and will have to react very strongly to any suggestion that the u.s. might see that otherwise having said that ukraine is very dependent on u.s. support a really wide range of issues so if one of its top back is would recognize even tacitly russian control of crimea that would really plunge ukraine into a diplomatic crisis and i do want to ask you about this because at the same time

the u.s. has also increased its role we should say in mediating a solution in the east of the country with their special envoy kurt volker as well do you think that ukraine here has the feeling or does the american ministration really support ukraine's interests here or russia where does that stand again we have that that's like disconnect and it's shown and president trumps rhetoric and the difference between president trump and the administration that he leads you know if you look at the past eighteen months of the trumpet ministration you have seen a escalation in support for ukraine we see more money going into defense we see the delivering of the lethal assistance to ukraine we see more sanctions we see the appointment of a special envoy for ukraine at the same time president trump has been much more ambiguous spoke far as his feeling about russian involvement in eastern ukraine and crimea and who is in the right. and this must be one of the biggest questions also a lot of people in brussels will be asking again or whether it might undermine what

the e.u. has been saying and doing towards in relation with russia rather over this crisis in ukraine. i think he's near made a good point when he said rhetoric paves the way for policies and i think that is the big concern here in brussels that indeed he will make good on a number of complaint promises that he will undermine the system that the european union stands for a multilateral system where the problems of the world are tech its together then you have the concerns of the eastern european members of the baltic states but also poland when it comes to a russian position regarding ukraine ukraine so there's really a lot of it's at stake here on the other hand as luxembourg's foreign minister us aboard pointed out this morning he really said look all these tweets all these comments that half sent shock waves through europe in the past questioning the reason why we have nato even threatening to leave the club which has been

a major pillar of the european self understanding in the in the past so if we take all of that serious every time it will drive us nuts and so. that is where the the things that european policy is now standing between on the one hand saying let's not let's not freak out on this on the other hand there's so much at stake here that could go wrong. gary got remind us that this of course coming off the heels of a very fractious tumultuous summit there a nato summit there in brussels. exactly i mean the main thing that donald trump has gone on about regarding this nato summit and he has stressed that point numerous times in the past is the defense spending of nato allies he wants to see nato of member states spending more but the comment that he even considered

quitting and alliance ass crucial to the security but else will self understanding of european nations. if that were not to be the case send a real shock wave through european foreign policy institutions and member states and then of course he was asked a number a in a in an interview a while being in brussels about his policy on the baltics on the military maneuvers that night so has increased ever since the annexation of crimea and his response was that he was at least prepared to talk to putin about that subject and then for knowing that in the case of north korea he in fact suspended these military exercises as a sign of goodwill that is now a major concern for of for the representatives of the baltic states the same it's true for not a few other foreign policy fields you have the involvement of russia in syria you

have a whole set of foreign policy questions that go through right to the core of european foreign policies and so of course if you would pursue the right points a meeting there like that could be a great assets a number of foreign policy foreign politicians that arrived this morning said in principle it's a good thing that these two important states talking to each other but we'll have to wait and see what really can be achieved and if he is still on our side if he is still representing what we perceive to be the west or a carrot and i just as you've been speaking we were we are now seeing the picture. is that we've been waiting for donald trump and glad we're putting sitting outside by side in front of the photographers staking their. mechanic or speaking russian which we are able to translate for you at the moment but these are the pictures that we are waiting for of the two leaders meeting for their summit

there a little bit behind schedule but. tyson as we said chris to melissa here is so important tell us more about what you're seeing in these pictures the this is just it's kind of breathtaking to see these two men a both just so such consequential figures of vladimir putin a long history of very mixed history globally and president trump the disrupter in chief you know and shaking up all conventional wisdom and this is really just one of the best symbols of how he's just shaken up what would be considered to be u.s. foreign policy meeting with vladimir putin of a summit after so much rancor in the past five years so much rancor especially tyson we're talking about a time when just on friday that u.s. special counsel robert mueller indicting twelve twelve russian military intelligence operatives in meddling in the u.s. election right so what i mean the intelligence community the justice department

have reached a conclusion indicting guilty of twelve russian operatives it is not in doubt anymore in the united states that there was meddling all right let's listen enticing to what's being said here. that he used to congratulations on that. incident. ok thank you. thank you most importantly we have a lot of good things to do. things to go. everything related to the military to missiles that we. think will be jocular a little bit about. and as. usual president xi what about china. and you told president xi. not excuse. me existing internet thank you thank you

thank you. thank you thank you. thank you. thank you i think we have a great opportunities together as to thank you frankly we have not been getting along very well for the last few years i've been here not too long but it's getting close to two years but i think the thing we're going to get accurate i've been saying and i'm sure you've heard thanks as i can say that getting along with russia is a good thing not a thank you. let me thank you thank you thank you for what you want but when you think it's not. as if it's as if you think you i think you are like you. and i really think the world wants to see us get along we are the two great nuclear power ninety percent

a nuclear. bomb a good thing it's a bad thing i think the hopefully can do something about it because it's not a positive force it's a negative so we'll be talking about that i mean one of the things we already want to get in fact. thank you what is going to get you thank you thank you. thank you thank you thank you. i'll ask you thanks. would that the world the way forward you personally discussion which i think begins now we're going to meet our goal. what if you represent. you on a level like we will come every day and she mentioned. week the week thank you thank

you thank god thank god. we're going to. thank you going to god i was. thank you everybody. thank god i. take that as he said breathtaking images really we heard donald trump say a few things there and this will be an extraordinary friendship. yet we may also be also just said you know we're the only two powers you know the nuclear powers put them at the same level it's that elevation of russia that the putin and many of his people are looking for you know if you if you look at the image the body language wasn't super super warm and putin a little bit stayed back but at the very end he gave a little bit of a smirk

a little bit of a smile and i think he's quite happy with what was said we should also.