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Trump says he would hold Putin responsible for alleged interference

According to Donald Trump, he was "Very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling, we can't have any of that"
President of the Unites States Donald Trump AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
President of the Unites States Donald Trump
© AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

WASHINGTON, July 19. /TASS/. President of the Unites States Donald Trump said he would hold President of Russia Vladimir Putin responsible for Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election "as the leader of a country", he said in an interview with the CBS.

Answering a question on whether he holds Putin personally responsible for the alleged interference, Trump said, "Well, I would, because he's in charge of the country. Just like I consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. So certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible, yes."

According to Trump, he was "Very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling, we can't have any of that... I let him know we can't have this, we're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be."

The first full-fledged talks between the presidents of Russia and the United States took place in Finland’s capital of Helsinki on July 16. The one-on-one meeting between Putin and Trump lasted more than two hours; later delegation members joined the presidents for a working lunch.

Putin and Trump first held talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. In November 2017, the Russian and US heads of state held a brief meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vietnam, adopting a joint statement on Syria. In addition, the two leaders have also held several telephone conversations.

Both presidents said after the Helsinki summit that a big step forward had been taken. However, Trump was later criticized for his insufficiently tough stance on Russia's alleged intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.