Trump, Putin agree Syria ceasefire, discuss election interference

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met for over two hours, discussing alleged Russian interference in the US election and ending with an agreement on a ceasefire in southwestern Syria.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the press after the meeting in Hamburg that the ceasefire was a “defined agreement” and could lead to further cooperation in Syria.

“This is our first indication of the US and Russia being able to work together in Syria,” he said. “The leaders had a lengthy discussion of other areas in Syria where we can work together”.

Tillerson, who was in the meeting with Trump and Putin, said that the leaders focused on ways to move past allegations that Russia had interfered in last year’s US election.

He said that Trump opened the session by “raising the concerns of the American people regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election”.

“They had a very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject,” Tillerson said. “The President pressed President Putin on more than one occasion regarding Russian involvement. President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the past.

“I think what the two presidents, I think rightly, focused on is how do we move forward. How do we move forward from here?”

Tillerson added that talks focused on how the two countries can “secure a commitment that the Russian government has no intention” of interfering in future elections.

“How do we have a framework where we have capability to judge what is happening in the cyberworld?”

Russian state-run Sputnik reported that the two leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine, Syria, the fight against terrorism and cybersecurity.

“I had a very lengthy conversation with the President of the United States, there were a lot of issues such as Ukraine, Syria, other problems, some bilateral issues,” Putin was quoted as saying.