RYAN CHILCOTE:

Well, look, I don't think that President Putin will like those remarks. At the same time, I think in a way he will appreciate that they were made in Poland and not here at the G20 Summit, not alongside the Russian president.

You know, they're well aware that President Trump is optically challenged. It will be very difficult for him to say something pro-Russian at this point. They feel that, at this point, it would be very difficult for him to really achieve much when it comes to improving the Russian-American relationship. They just don't want to see it get any worse.

So, I think they'll think that he was sort of speaking to the crowd, speaking to the parlor, if you will, and what really matters is what President Trump tells them in that — or tells President Putin in that room when it comes to policy, and namely what President Putin is hoping is two things, that one, President Trump will perhaps listen to some of the issues that he has with the Ukrainian side, when it comes to Russia's conflict in Ukraine, and secondly, President Putin will be hoping that he can use Russia's precedence in Syria, what Russia is doing in Syria as a bridge to the United States, find some kind of common ground, encourage President Trump to pursue for example Islamic State in Syria together with Syria.

That is a whole lot of challenges but that has always been the Russians' big hope that they can team up with the United States or at least the lower the level, the temperature in the relationship by working together in Syria.