Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he would be willing to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Speaking at an Arctic forum, Putin and Finland's president, Sauli Niinisto, said they were open to the idea of such a meeting, and Niinisto said he would be honored to host the summit in his country.
Putin said Russia has many friends in Washington and relations between the two countries would get better at some point.
He denied involvement in any efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election last year and called the allegations of Russian meddling “lies” and “provocations.”
Putin said any contacts Russian diplomats had in the U.S. were part of routine work. He said Russia proposed a joint cyber security effort with the U.S. long ago, but it was refused by Washington.
