Putin tells Trump,Russia didn't meddle in US poll

Hamburg: Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump that Moscow did not meddle in the US presidential election and Trump accepted it, claimed Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"The President opened the meeting raising the concerns of the American people about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election," said Tillerson. "They had a very lengthy and robust conversation on this."

"I think the President is rightly focused on how do we move forward from something that may be an intractable disagreement at this point," Tillerson said.

"The (issue of cybersecurity) got a lot of attention, which is understandable," Lavrov said. "President Trump mentioned that in the US, some circles are fuelling even though they cannot prove (anything -- the allegations of Russian meddling in the US elections)."

"In the course of the months that these allegations have been around, not a single fact has been presented, which is admitted by those in the (US) Congress who have led this movement at some point," Lavrov said. "And President Trump said that he heard President Putin stating clearly that it is not true, that the Russian government did not meddle" in the elections."

Trump left the scene of his conversation with Putin, to head to Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, a concert that is the venue for a formal G20 dinner. He was accompanied by the First Lady Melania Trump.

"President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think it's going very well," said Mr Trump. "We look forward to a lot of very positive happenings for Russia and for the United States, and for everyone concerned."

"We spoke over the phone but phone conversations are never enough, definitely," he said. "I hope that, as you have said, our meetings will yield positive results."

The two leaders discussed a range of issues, including Russia's annexation of Crimea, a reported agreement for a cease fire in Syria, and ways to cooperate in the fight against terrorism in the world

"This is our first indication of the US and Russia being able to work together in Syria," Tillerson said of the ceasefire in Syria, which was described as a potential building block to further cooperation in the war-torn country. Trump and Putin had a "lengthy discussion of other areas in Syria where we can work together".

The two countries haven't had the greatest relationship so far in Trump's nascent presidency, and the White House has at times described the relationship with the Kremlin as at all-time lows.

The relationship became exacerbated in April when Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian government airbase in April to the chagrin of the Russian military.

The Russian government officially supports the embattled Syrian regime headed by Bashar al-Assad, while the US government has called for that president's ouster.

The 2017 G20 summit is the 12 meeting of the Group of Twenty, which is an assembly of some of the most powerful countries, as well as the European Union.