Russian President Vladimir Putin believes President Trump was satisfied with his denial of Russian interference in the 2016 election during a meeting earlier this week.
“He asked a lot of questions about this,” Putin said during a press conference after the G-20 summit Saturday in Hamburg, Germany. “I responded to all of those questions as much as I could. I think he did accept what I said but you have to ask him what he thinks about all of this.”
But Putin later said that he thinks Trump was “satisfied with my answers.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the Trump meeting earlier this week that Trump had accepted Putin’s denials of any interference.
Putin said that he talked with Trump about conversations that he had with former President Barack Obama on the issue.
U.S. intelligence agencies say that Russia tried to meddle in the U.S. election.
The interference has sparked federal and congressional probes, but Trump has so far been uncertain about the extent of Russian involvement in meddling with the election. He said earlier this week he thought that it was Russia and others that were involved.
Putin added that the U.S. and Russia agreed to set up a working group on “cyber security.”
Putin also divulged what he thought of Trump after their first face-to-face meeting.
“The Trump you see on TV is very different from Trump the real person,” Putin said. “He is very specific. He is able to understand what you tell him and analyze very quickly.”
Putin was asked at the press conference if he plans to meddle in upcoming elections in Germany.
“We never meddled in the U.S. election, why should we meddle with Germany,” Putin said. “This is our number-one trade partner at a national level in Europe.”
Trump is not expected to hold a press conference before he leaves the G-20 summit on Saturday.
