US president Donald Trump has caused anger by defending Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election. Russian president Vladimir Putin has denied his country interfered in the 2016 US elections.

Putin said the “so-called Russian interference” in the election was brought up by Trump during their summit in Helsinki.

Speaking at a joint news conference alongside his US counterpart, Putin said: “I had

to repeat that the Russian state never interfered, and does

not plan to interfere in internal American electoral process.”

“President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump replied.

Trump said the Russian collusion investigation has been a “disaster” for the US and has kept America and Russia “separated”. He reiterated that there had been “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russian government.

But House Speaker Paul Ryan said there is “no question” that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and continues to try undermine democracy in the US and around the world. Ryan said the American intelligence community and the House Intelligence Committee agree Russia interfered in the election. He added: “The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally.”

Ryan said that Russia “remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals” and that “the US must be focused on holding Russia accountable and putting an end to its vile attacks on democracy”.

Putin said of the collusion claims that there is “no evidence when it comes to the actual facts”.

The Russian president made an “incredible offer” to allow Russian and US investigators to work together on allegations of Russian cyber attacks, Trump said.

He added that Putin suggested the US should provide its intelligence to the Russian military so Russia can determine the truth of what happened.

Trump said he has “great confidence” in his intelligence agencies who have concluded Russia interfered in the election. But the US president said Putin was “incredibly strong and powerful today” in his contention that Russia had nothing to do with election interference.

The Russian president also rejected allegations that Moscow has collected compromising material on Trump or his family.

Dismissing the claims as “sheer nonsense”, Putin said he had not been aware of Trump’s visit to Moscow a few years before his 2016 election. The former KGB agent scoffed at the notion that the Russian security services try to gather incriminating materials on business figures, saying: “Do you really believe that we try to shadow every businessman?”

In general, the Russian leader said, the talks with Trump took place in an “open and businesslike atmosphere” and he characterised them as “successful and useful”.

Trump told the press conference that the US and Russia must find ways to “co-operate in pursuit of shared interests”.

He said a productive dialogue between America and Russia is

good for both countries and “is good for the world”.

Trump added they had discussed disagreements between their countries “at length”, and accepted that relations between them have never been worse. However, the president added that he thinks “that changed as of about four hours ago”.

He said he is sure that he and Putin will meet again often in the future. Trump confirmed that he addressed meddling by Russia in the 2016 US election with his Russian opposite number, but the US leader is not condemning Moscow’s conduct publicly. He said his message was “best delivered in person”, adding that he “spent a great deal of time” talking about election meddling.

Putin feels strongly about the issue, Trump claimed, and “has an interesting idea”.

The summit comes days after the US indictment of 12 alleged Russian military intelligence agents for sophisticated hacking in the 2016 election. Putin said he and Trump have agreed to continue detailed discussions on arms control issues.

The Russian leader said Russia and the US should discuss a possible extension of the 2010 New START nuclear arms reduction treaty and the implementation of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Putin added that other issues that Russia would like to discuss in the arms control sphere are the US missile defence plans and the weaponisation of space.

The two leaders said they are exploring ways to protect Israel from conflict raging near its border in Syria. There was no commitment to any specific actions, but both

said that ensuring Israel’s security was a priority. Israel is deeply concerned about Iran’s presence in Syria, where Iranian forces and proxies have been fighting on behalf of the Syrian government.