Trump and Putin hold first face-to-face meeting in Hamburg

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first face-to-face meeting Friday at a G20 summit marred by violent protests and a rift between America and its Western allies over climate change and trade.

"We look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States and for everyone concerned," Trump said. "It's an honour to be with you."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he discussed Ukraine, Syria, terrorism and cyber-security with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday, according to reports from Russian news agencies.

"We had a very lengthy conversation," Putin said after the session, which lasted for more than two hours.

Putin told the US leader: "I'm delighted to be able to meet you personally Mr President. And I hope as you have said, our meeting will yield concrete results."

Trump and Putin shared a "clear positive chemistry" during their first face-to-face talks Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

"As to the nature of the two hours and 15 minutes, let me characterise: the meeting was very constructive, the two leaders I would say, connected very quickly," said Tillerson, adding "there was a very clear positive chemistry between the two".

Ceasefire in Syria

Putin and Trump agreed on a ceasefire in southwestern Sryia during talks at the G20 summit, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The truce, agreed during talks held in a "constructive atmosphere", would start on July 9, Lavrov told reporters.

The Russian and U.S. leaders had also agreed to work on solving the Ukrainian crisis, and US representative would visit Russia for consultations on the issue, Lavrov added.

Meddling in US elections

The US president and his Russian counterpart had a "very robust and lengthy exchange" on allegations of Moscow's meddling in US elections, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday.

During Trump and Putin's first face-to-face talks, the US property tycoon pressed the ex-KGB agent "on more than one occasion" on the claims, said Tillerson, who was in the meeting. Putin denied any such involvement, he added.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later said Trump had "accepted" Putin's denial of meddling in the US vote.

Differing views of North Korea

The US and Russian presidents had differing views on how to deal with North Korea's weapons programmes during the talks, but Washington will continue to press Moscow to do more to curb Pyongyang's activities, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

"The Russians see it a little differently than we do, so we're going to continue those discussions and ask them to do more. Russia does have economic activity with North Korea," Tillerson told reporters after the meeting between Trump and Putin.