Trump says will 'represent our country well' when he sits down with Russian leader

Trump says will 'represent our country well' when he sits down with Russian leader

President Trump began a daylong gathering with world leaders with a tweeted promise to fight for U.S. interests when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit.

The closely watched encounter on Friday in the German port city of Hamburg comes a day after Trump criticized the Kremlin for "destabilizing" actions in Ukraine and elsewhere. 

During a stopover in Poland on Thursday, the U.S. president also played down intelligence assessments that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election with the intention of helping him win.

The White House has not said whether Trump would raise the topic of Russian interference in the U.S. vote. Democratic lawmakers have urged him to do so, but his national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, told reporters in advance o f the trip that there was no "specific agenda" for the meeting, which was set to run for 35 minutes.

Amid speculation that Putin, a wily former KGB agent, might manage to maneuver Trump into making some unintended concession, the president struck a defiant tone, saying he did not expect accurate coverage of the meeting from the "Fake News Media."

In Warsaw, the president took the unusual step of using a news conference with a foreign leader, Poland's President Andrzej Duda, to complain he was the target of unfair coverage at home. Duda, who has worried Western European leaders with his steps to curtail media freedom in his own country, smiled and nodded.

Russia has said the talks would be too short for a detailed discussion of Ukraine. However, the Kremlin would like to see an easing of sanctions put in place after its 2014 annexat ion of Crimea.

Putin may also push for the return of two Russian diplomatic compounds in New York and Maryland that were shuttered by former President Obama in retaliation for election interference. 

The two leaders may also try to find common ground in the fight against terrorism â€" a major theme of an address by Trump in the Polish capital â€" and on Syria, where Moscow has lent crucial military support to President Bashar Assad and has actively sought to carve out a more influential regional role.

The Kremlin has also put forth a plan for reducing tensions over North Korea's weapons and nuclear programs, but a key element of it calls for Washington to stand down from military maneuvers with South Korea.  

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