The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted Monday that it agrees with President Trump’s claim that “U.S. foolishness” is to blame for worsening relations between the U.S. and Russia.
Trump said in an early Monday morning tweet that due to American “foolishness,” “stupidity,” and the ongoing investigation into Russian collusion, U.S.-Russia relations have never been worse, and Russia agreed.
[Trump to Putin: ‘The world wants to see us get along’]
We agree https://t.co/7l087Qwmj3
— MFA Russia ?? (@mfa_russia) July 16, 2018
The presidents on Monday are engaging in their first bilateral meeting in Helsinki. Trump has said he will talk to Putin about election meddling during the summit.
[Related: Robert Mueller indicts 12 Russian officers for election meddling, hacking into Clinton’s emails]
The meeting between the two world leaders kicked off Monday afternoon after Putin showed up an hour late for the scheduled meeting time.
In their opening remarks, Trump made no mention of the March 4 nerve-agent attack on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, on British soil, or the subsequent June 30 incident that resulted in the death of Dawn Sturgess. It is widely believed that the first attack was carried out at the direction of Moscow, and that Sturgess was poisoned after handling the discarded bottle containing the toxic substance used in the first attack.
