Trump’s overtures to Putin stir opposition at home (Source AFP) US President Donald Trump stunned allies, gave ammunition to foes and ignited a domestic political firestorm following his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Here is a look at some of the fallout from the controversial summit. – What now for US-Russia relations? –

Going into Monday’s meeting in Helsinki, Trump said he wanted to improve relations with Russia, which he characterized as the worst they’ve ever been.

He had the opportunity to press Putin on any number of issues, including Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines jet over Ukraine and alleged meddling in the US election in 2016 to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton. After meeting privately for two hours, the two leaders agreed to revive bilateral corporation and touted an improved relationship — but they provided few specifics.

For some observers, that in itself was a source of relief.

They had feared Trump would agree to some sort of grand bargain on Crimea or a back-of-the-envelope deal on Syria.

Trump had vowed to seek closer ties with Russia during his election campaign, but his Helsinki appearance did little to quell suspicions of collusion between some on his election team and the Kremlin. Those alleged ties, which Trump has repeatedly denied, are the subject of a sprawling investigation that has overshadowed Trump’s time in the White House. Standing alongside Putin, Trump seemed to give more weight to the Russian president’s denials than conclusions from his own intelligence services that Russia did in fact interfere in the election — and Putin admitted he wanted Trump to win. The performance in Helsinki served only to deepen suspicions, Erwan Lagadec, a professor at George Washington University, told AFP, and as a result, Trump’s attempt to warm US-Russia ties might ultimately backfire. On Tuesday, Trump tried to quell the uproar at home by saying he had misspoken and does indeed accept US intelligence assessments that Russia meddled.