A victory for Putin in his first face-to-face encounter with Trump.

Putin emerged victorious from the talks, having demonstrated Russia's equal standing with the US on the international stage, according to experts.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their first meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit on July 7. Photo: AFP.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a closed-door meeting lasting over 120 minutes on July 7th on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. As the two leaders emerged from the meeting room, conflicting information regarding the topics they discussed began to surface, according to US News.

The meeting attracted particular attention from the international community because it was the first time they had met "face to face" since Trump took office as US president. Observers were curious whether the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election would be discussed and how a relatively inexperienced politician like President Trump would be able to pressure his more seasoned Russian counterpart.

Victory for Putin

Analysts believe Russian President Putin clearly won his first meeting with his American counterpart, where Trump played the role of someone seeking allies, according to news.com.au.

Writing in the New York Times, commentator Masha Gessen argued that the meeting was evidence that the US under Trump had become more "normal" with Russia. According to Gessen, President Putin has long desired fair treatment for Russia in its relationship with the US, something he failed to achieve under the administrations of George W. Bush or Barack Obama.

"President Trump gave President Putin exactly what he wanted: respect, a friendly relationship, and freedom from criticism," Gessen said.

A key achievement of the meeting was the ceasefire agreement in southern Syria, which the two leaders mutually agreed upon. It also helped demonstrate that Russia and the United States are completely on equal footing in the Syrian conflict.

"Putin spent years trying to convince the Obama administration to recognize Russia's decisive role in the Middle East," Gessen said. "And now, President Trump has given him even more. Trump has demonstrated that Russia and the U.S. can absolutely negotiate the fate of Syria without Syria's involvement."

Furthermore, no criticism of Moscow's intervention in eastern Ukraine was raised at the meeting. Western countries condemned Russia for this action, but Moscow vehemently denied it.

Russian President Putin lavished praise on his American counterpart after their first meeting. He also emphasized that the encounter could serve as a model for future efforts to improve Russia-US relations.

On July 9, US President Trump also declared, "It's time to move forward by cooperating constructively with Russia."

Shortly after their meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced to reporters that President Trump had accepted President Putin's assertion that Russia did not interfere in the US election process. This was surprising news, given that President Trump had declared in Poland on July 6th that he believed Moscow played a role in the 2016 US election.

"The issue of cybersecurity is a major concern, which is perfectly understandable," Lavrov told the Independent. "President Trump mentioned that there are growing doubts in the US about allegations of Russian interference in the election, even though they cannot prove it."

However, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered a different explanation for what happened at the meeting.

"The President has pressed President Putin more than once on questions about Russian involvement," Tillerson said. "President Putin denies any involvement. However, the two leaders agreed that this is a significant obstacle to moving forward in the Russia-U.S. relationship, and agreed to further discuss the commitment to non-interference in the affairs and processes of democracy in the U.S. or any other country. There is still much work to be done in this regard," the U.S. Secretary of State emphasized.

The discrepancies in the information provided by each side stem from the fact that the meeting was held behind closed doors, with only six participants: Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin, Foreign Minister Lavrov, Secretary of State Tillerson, and two interpreters. The US President has yet to hold a press conference to address the doubts and questions surrounding the meeting.

Experts believe that Trump made a mistake by not preparing more thoroughly for his meeting with his Russian counterpart, easily leading to him being manipulated by Putin's rhetoric.

"That's why we need note-takers at meetings like that," observed Richard Kauzlarich, former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and an official at the National Intelligence Council. "If you don't have anyone there to corroborate, what you hear could be very different from what the person sitting next to you hears."

According to VNE