HELSINKI, July 16. /TASS/. The Monday summit has changed relationship between Moscow and Washington that hit its low, US President Donald Trump told a joint news conference after summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

"Our relationship has never been worse than it is now, however that changed as of about four hours ago," the US leader stressed. "Refusing to engage will not accomplish anything," he said. The two presidents first had a one-on-one meeting in Helsinki that lasted slightly over two hours. Later they held an expanded bilateral meeting with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s Aide Yuri Ushakov, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and US National Security Adviser John Bolton. The expanded meeting lasted about two hours.

The summit in Helsinki was the first full-format meeting of the Russian and US leaders. Prior to that they met twice - in July and November of 2017 - at major international events.