Putin says ready to meet Trump at Finland summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is ready to meet with US President Donald Trump in an upcoming summit of Arctic nations in Finland.

“I believe Finland suits this purpose well, and Helsinki is a very convenient platform to organize an event like this,” Putin said at the International Arctic Forum in the northwestern Russian city of Arkhangelsk on Thursday.

Earlier this year, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto had said the September summit of Arctic countries could serve as the venue for the first meeting between the US and Russian presidents.

“If this happens, we – and I personally – would be glad to take part in such an event. If not, the meeting [with Trump] could take place in the framework of the G20 summit [set to take place in July],” Putin added.

Trump and Putin have both said they would like to try to mend battered US-Russia relations.

The ties between the two countries fell to their lowest level since the Cold War after Ukraine's Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in 2014.

Pitting Russia against US dangerous

Elsewhere in his comments, the Russian leader once again denied allegations that his country meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

In response to a question whether Russia had sought to influence the vote, he said, “Read my lips – no.”

In a declassified report released in January, the US intelligence community concluded that Putin helped Trump win the vote, an allegation dismissed by both Moscow and Trump.

Read more:

• ‘Trump’s salad can point to his Russia ties’
• 'No Trump-Russia collusion detected yet'

During his presidential campaign and afterwards, Trump repeatedly praised Putin and called for closer ties between the two countries.

“This anti-Russian card is being played in the interests of some political forces inside the United States with an aim to strengthen and consolidate their positions,” Putin added.

“Do we want to completely destroy our diplomatic relations, to bring the situation to how it was in the 1960s, with the Cuban missile crisis?” the Russian leader asked.

Criticism of handling protests politically-motivated

Meanwhile, in his first public comments on the weekend’s nationwide protests, Putin accused his opponents of seeking "mercenary" objectives by using corruption allegations against the government.

"We know well that this tool was used at the start of the so-called Arab Spring, what this led to, and what bloodshed happened in the region," Putin said.

Several dozen people were detained in the Sunday demos after the opposition urged people to take to the streets to protest against corruption and demand the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The Kremlin had earlier warned that the protests were an illegal provocation.

Read more:

• Kremlin: Anti-corruption protests 'provocation'
• US urges Russia to free ‘peaceful protesters’

Putin also condemned the US and the European Union for calling on Russia to release those arrested during the unauthorized rallies organized by opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

"Such appeals to Russia are purely political aimed at applying pressure on the country's domestic political life," he said.

"Everybody should abide by the law and everyone who breaks the law should be punished in accordance with Russian legislation," the Russian president added.

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