Presidents of Russia and the US Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump during the talks will discuss the problems of the Syrian and Ukrainian settlement. This was told to reporters by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "The situation in Syria and Ukraine will be the main topics of the talks between Trump and Putin at the summit in Helsinki," the official said in an interview with the Emirates TV channel Sky News Arabia. According to Pompeo, the US intends to "force Russians, Syrians and Iranians to adhere to political agreements". Ideally, Washington wants to ensure that a new constitution has been worked out in Syria, and the conflict has been settled exclusively by political methods. The position of the United States is that Iran and the pro-Iranian military formations must leave the territory of Syria, because for their stay there is no reason. From the point of view of Pompeo, Russia is guilty of violating the agreements on the southern zone of de-escalation in Syria, which lasts about a year. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said earlier that his army could seize this territory by force. And Russia, the Secretary of State said, did not put him in his place. About what will be the agenda at the meeting of the two leaders, previously told and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "As for the south of Syria, all Syrian issues will most likely be discussed in Helsinki," the Russian diplomat said last week after talks with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman al-Safadi. According to Lavrov, Moscow expects frank talk on all issues that cloud relations with Washington. In turn, the White House said that the main topics of the meeting would be "US-Russian relations and a number of issues of national security". In the Kremlin, they said that the presidents intend to discuss the prospects for the further development of bilateral relations and topical issues on the international agenda. Negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will be held in Helsinki on July 16. This will be the first full-fledged meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States, without reference to international summits.

Russian experts noted that the meeting of the two leaders will take place after the summit of the heads of the NATO member states, and this is a positive sign.

Trump will know the positions of the leaders of NATO countries on important international issues. This will make him more predictable at a meeting with Putin, said Sergei Kislitsyn, a leading researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.