Donald Trump appeared on Sunday to back away from a proposed cyber security unit that he had discussed forming with Russia's president Vladimir Putin.

The president had described a new era of co-operation with Russia as he returned from Europe on Sunday, outlining plans for a joint cyber-security unit to protect against election hacking.

In his first public comments on his meeting with Mr Putin at last week’s G20 summit in Hamburg, Mr Trump said he “strongly pressed” the Russian president on allegations of Kremlin meddling in the US election, but that it was now “time to move forward in working constructively with Russia.”

“Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded… and safe,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.