The first meeting between the US and Russian presidents at the G20 in Hamburg can pave the way for progress on Syria and anti-Kremlin sanctions, but the media is more interested in accusing Moscow of election meddling, say experts who spoke to RT after the summit.

'CIA & Pentagon are derailing Trump's drive to improve Russia relations'

Martin Summers, journalist and political commentator

RT:Do you think, following this meeting, Russia and the US will be able to improve relations? Putin spoke quite positively of Trump.

Martin Summers: It is to be hoped that it is possible that relations can be improved, because obviously they have been in a pretty poor state up to now. I think the problem for the Russian side and for everybody is how much Trump is in charge of his own administration. It is quite clear the CIA, the Pentagon, and so on are often wrong-footing Trump’s moves, and therefore there's some question whether he can deliver on whatever is discussed with Vladimir Putin. But the fact that they have reached some kind of personal chemistry is potentially very positive. Of course, there are all sorts of other problems that have to be dealt with. It is not just straightforward.

‘It’s time to move forward in working constructively with Russia’ - Trump https://t.co/BWasoN687Dpic.twitter.com/SuaOYGHpA0 — RT America (@RT_America) 9 July 2017

RT:Putin rejected all allegations of election meddling. Why were journalists there so intent on suggesting Russia will meddle in the German election?

MS: There is clearly a campaign to suggest that Russia has been involved in fixing Western elections. I don’t think there is a shred of evidence to suggest that they have. Of course, Western elections are scary beasts. You don’t like to see sausages being made. There is a lot of interference that goes on: billionaires buying airtime and so on and so forth. It is quite easy to accuse Russia of meddling in elections, when the elections are so messy in any case. Don’t forget Trump didn’t win a majority of the popular vote when he was elected – he won the Electoral College. So, all those who voted against him feel embittered that they didn’t get what they wanted, but that's the American system. I think Putin has been very, very professional here – he is trying to deal with Trump in a professional way. I think Trump is a business professional, he can respond to that kind of method if you like. But I am afraid that US politics is too messy for us to be very confident about what is going to happen here.

'Kremlin & White House could solve Syria problem, Europe's refugee crisis'

Charles Ortel, Political analyst and writer

RT:What sort of deals could be struck between Russia and the US? Do you see any major advance on the Syrian issue?

Charles Ortel: Absolutely, RT talked before about the issue of refugees now streaming back into Europe again. If we can stabilize this jointly, stabilize the situation in Syria, maybe many of these migrants will choose to return to their rightful homes. So that is one place. But I am more of an investor, economic type person – when I look at what Russia and the US could do to complement one another and to bring down the level of the world tension in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East, and then to help Russia exploit its economic opportunities, which are massive, the untapped resources of Russia are gigantic. It is, after all, relatively underpopulated compared to India and China. There are so many infrastructure projects, there are so many opportunities, where Russia might be able to use its labor force to export products into Central and Western Europe and around the world, and where Americans might be able to help with that. Then there is the other side, which: if we do see demonstrable progress, I imagine that the US would be interested in changing the sanctions.

RT:What are the barriers that have to be overcome?

CO: I think we’re in the process here in the US of attempting under Donald Trump’s leadership to try to drain the swamp and by that the elitist, crony relationships among academia, media, etc. That is going to take a little time. It is quite ironic to watch now in 2017, the American left cite Russia under Putin as the enemy, when during the Soviet regime it was the American left that leaned toward and favored what was going on under the Soviet Union. It seems that there is a lot of animus between Donald Trump and the swamp, and in particular the mainstream media. Please bear with us, and don’t believe much of what you read in the mainstream media, because a lot of it is fake news, on substance, and Trump is a man of substance, and his team is remarkable team – men and women of substance. They see the potential, they see the opportunities; they don’t like to talk, they like to act, and they have been acting. There is a lot that Trump and Mr. Putin can do together - that their teams could do together for the benefit of our respected nations in the world. It’s great.

'US accuses Russia of election meddling, because that's what it does itself'

John Bosnitch, Political commentator

RT:During the news conference Russian President rejected all allegations of election meddling. Why were journalists there so intent on suggesting Russia will meddle in the German election?

John Bosnitch: The journalists who were so insistent upon this possibility were mainly American journalists, and the American journalists, of course, also cover American activities, and they know full well that the US has been interfering in almost every other countries' election in the world since 1945 – through the National Democratic Institute, which is the Democratic Party’s international political action group, and through the International Republican Institute, which is the Republican Party’s international political lobby group, and through the National Endowment for Democracy, which is the combined Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum intervention political organization. Since they have grown up in the US, and they know that the US has been meddling in a minimum of 150 countries' elections, I guess they would consider it negligent on the part of Russia not to try to do something similar in other countries.

RT:Do you think the Syrian ceasefire deal announced on Friday will have a significant impact on the conflict?

JB: You know ceasefires have a tendency of not holding immediately, so I don’t think we can be certain that all parties, because there are some rogue actors who were receiving Western financing and Western weapons and who have gone rogue, so I don’t know if they can be controlled on the ground immediately. However, if there is sufficient will on the part of the superpowers, there is no doubt that peace can be brought to not just Syria, but to the surrounding region as well.