Some analysts in Finland have raised concern that, with the World Cup out of the way, Russia might embark on an unpredictable power play rather similar to its annexation of Crimea which came soon after it had held the Winter Olympic Games in 2014.

“I think that after the World Cup and after this summit, there will be no such thing (like Crimea),” said Foreign Minister Timo Soini after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the margins of the summit.

“(Russia) might surprise in other way… because they have much more in hand to give up now than what they had back then. They might be a peacemaker in Ukraine, in Syria, in nuclear weapons.”

He said the Nordic EU member state was chosen as the summit venue partly because of its foreign policy line – backing the West but keeping up dialogue with Russia, its neighbour.

Trump told a news conference earlier on Monday that he had discussed a wide range of issues with Putin, including the war in Syria, Iran and nuclear arms control, and that the countries had now turned a corner for better on their relationship.