A meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Hamburg went 106 minutes longer than originally scheduled.
Trump and Putin held a press op before the meeting. Putin told Trump, “I am delighted to meet you personally.”
When Trump met Putin: "We look forward to a lot of very positive things… It's an honour to be with you." #G20 pic.twitter.com/mlnQcIjUVj
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 7, 2017
Trump had originally been scheduled to depart the meeting site of the Group of 20 world leaders in Hamburg, Germany at 4:20 p.m. local time following his meeting with Putin.
But Svetlana Lukash, a Russian official accompanying Putin at the talks, said the meeting that began around 4 p.m. local time was still ongoing at 5:50 p.m.
The longer-than-scheduled meeting comes as US. officials say the United States and Russia have reached an agreement for a cease-fire in southwest Syria that is set to take effect on Sunday.
Only six people attended the meeting: Mr. Trump and his secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson; Mr. Putin and his foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov; and two interpreters.
The Russians had agitated to include several more staff members in the meeting, but Mr. Trump's team had insisted that the meeting be kept small to avoid leaks and competing accounts later, according to an administration official with direct knowledge of the carefully choreographed meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity around the matter.
