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Interactive: Russia President Putin's tense history with U.S. leaders


President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit, Friday, July 7, 2017, in Hamburg. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit, Friday, July 7, 2017, in Hamburg. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) – President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly two hours on Friday.

The meeting resulted in an agreement between the U.S. and Russia for a cease-fire in southwest Syria that will take effect Sunday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Putin denied interference with the 2016 Presidential election. They also spoke about North Korea. Tillerson called the meetings “constructive."

During the initial meeting between the two world leaders, President Trump said, “a lot of positive things happening, for Russia, for the United States." The two shook hands and Trump said to Putin, “It’s an honor to be with you”

The president tweeted ahead of meeting with the Russian leader on Friday morning.

Friday’s meeting was the first meeting between the two world leaders. In the past, Putin has met with several U.S. Presidents.

Here is a timeline including some of the big moments in U.S. Russia relations since Russian President Vladimir Putin entered civil service:

January 1989 – President George H.W. Bush is sworn into office.

December 2-3, 1989 – The Malta Summit. President Bush met with President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and officially put an end to the Cold War, according to a New York Times article.

1990 - Putin moved to Moscow with his family when he was offered a position as assistant to the rector of Leningrad State University. He oversaw the Universities’ international relations. During this time, Putin would become chairman of Leningrad City Counsel.

1991 – Putin becomes chairman of the Committee for International Relations at the St. Petersburg City Hall. He resigns from the KGB.

June 1991 – Boris Yeltsin is elected president of Russia, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

July 1991 – President H.W. Bush and President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Moscow and sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START I). The agreement required “the two countries to reduce their total number of nuclear warheads and bombs by one-third,” according to the U.S. Department of State.

December 1991 – Russian President Gorbachev resigns from office bringing an end to the Soviet Union, according to the U.S. Department of State.

February 2, 1992 – Russian President travels to the United States and meets with President Bush at Camp David, according to the New York Times. The U.S. Department of State the two world leaders agreed to “continue strategic arms reductions and to cooperate on arms sales, nonproliferation, and ballistic missile defense.”

February 18, 1992 – United States establishes diplomatic relations with the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, according to the U.S. Department of State.

February 19, 1992 – United States establishes diplomatic relations with former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, according to the U.S. Department of State.

March 24, 1992 - United States establishes diplomatic relations with the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, according to the U.S. Department of State.

June 1992- Russian President Boris visits Washington D.C. for a summit held by President H.W. Bush. They agree to continue the process of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START I) and the “United States pledged $4.5 billion as a share of a $24 billion international program to support economic reform in Russia,“ according to the U.S. Department of State.

1993 – President Bush signs a second START agreement with Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The agreement called for a further reduction in strategic weapons. “START II therefore translated to an overall fifty percent reduction in nuclear weapons, limiting each country to a total of between 3,000 and 3,500 strategic weapons,” according to the U.S. Department of State.

January 1993- President H.W. Bush loses 1992 election and Bill Clinton is sworn in as president.

1994 – Putin rises to the position of Deputy Chairman of the St. Petersburg City Government.

February 1994 – The United States joins Russia on the first shuttle mission, according to the U.S. Department of State. During remarks, President Clinton urged Russian leaders to put an end to the ongoing conflict in Chechnya.

May 1995 – President Clinton visits Moscow, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, according to the U.S. Department of State.

October 1995 – President Bill Clinton meets with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

January 1996 – U.S. Senate ratifies START II agreement, according to the U.S. Department of State.

1996 – Putin becomes Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Directorate.

March 1997 – Putin named Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office

May 1997 – President Clinton met with Russian President Yeltsin in Paris and signed the NATO-Russia Founding Act. The Act states “NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries. They share the goal of overcoming the vestiges of earlier confrontation and competition and of strengthening mutual trust and cooperation,” according to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

July 1998 – Putin appointed as Director of the Federal Security Service.

November 1998 – U.S. and Russia work together to launch the International Space Station, according to the U.S. Department of State.

March 1999 - Putin also holds the position of Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

August 1999- Russian President Boris Yeltsin appoints Putin as Prime Minister of the Russian Government.

Early December 1999 – Russian President Yeltsin proposes that Vladimir Putin should be named as acting president.

December 31, 1999 – Vladimir Putin becomes acting president of the Russian Federation.

March 26, 2000 – Putin is officially elected as President of the Russian Federation.

June 5, 2000 – President Clinton travels to Russia and delivers remarks in the Russian State Duma, according to the U.S. Department of State.

July 21- 23, 2000 - President Clinton attends the G-8 summit in Okinawa, Japan. While there he meets with President Putin before the start of the summit. According to the U.S. Department of State, Clinton and Putin discussed “Middle East peace initiative, the Iranian nuclear program, Chechnya, Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Belgrade, and the need to establish rule of law in Russia.”

November 2, 2000 – A Russian Soyuz rocket “delivered the first resident crew to the international space station.” according to the U.S. Department of State. “One American astronaut, Bill Shepherd, and two Russian cosmonauts, Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, remained in space until March 21.”

May 24, 2002 – U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (the Moscow Treaty). Both countries agree to reduce the number of its strategic nuclear warheads “to a level of between 1700 and 2200” by December 31, 2012, according to the U.S. Department of State.

May 28, 2002 – President George W. Bush meets with President Putin at the NATO Summit in Rome, Italy, according to NATO. President Putin first made a statement to the council followed by President Bush. According to the U.S. Department of State, “Putin agreed to create a NATO-Russia Council that would focus on specific, well-defined projects, where NATO and Russia shared a common interest. Initial projects included work on nonproliferation, assessing the terrorist threat, defense reform, military cooperation, and civil emergencies.”

April 30, 2003 – The United States working in cooperation with Russia present a “Roadmap for Peace” in the Middle East, according to the U.S. Department of State. The plan was presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

March 2004 – Putin is elected to a second term in office as president of the Russian Federation.

July 2006 –President Bush and Russian President Putin enter a joint initiative to improve “Security of nuclear facilities, suppress illicit nuclear trafficking, coordinate response to nuclear terrorist incidents, cooperate on the technical means of combating nuclear terrorism, and to strengthen the prosecution of nuclear terrorists,” according to the U.S. Department of State.

December 10, 2007- According to CNN, Putin endorses Dmitry Medvedev as his successor.

May 7, 2008 – Dmitry Medvedev inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation, according to CNN.

March 8, 2008 - Putin is appointed Russian Prime Minister by presidential executive order signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

February 7, 2009 – Vice President Joe Biden in Munich, Germany says that the White House would like to “press the reset button" with its relationship with Russia, according to The Washington Post.

April 2009 – President Obama has the first meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in London, according to the New York Times.

March 2010 – President Obama announces the New START Treaty with Russia, according to the White House. During a news conference, the president called it “the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades.”

April 8, 2010 – President Obama signs the New START Treaty with Russia in Prague, according to the BBC.

June 2010 – According to The Washington Post, the U.S. Justice Department arrested 10 people believed to be Russian spies. Russian Prime Minster Putin criticized the United States for the arrests.

February 5, 2011 – New START Treaty between the United States and Russia goes into effect.

November 2011 – Putin is nominated as a candidate for president.

May 7, 2012 – Putin is sworn in as president of the Russian Federation, according to the Kremlin.

March 26, 2012 – President Barak Obama tells outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he will have more flexibility to discuss the contentious issue of missile defense after the November election.

August 22, 2012 – The Russian Federation joins the World Trade Organization.

December 2012- Russia and the United States both condemn the launch of a ballistic missile launch, according to The Washington Post

December 14, 2012 – President Obama signed “H.R. 6156, the "Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012," which authorizes the President to extend to Russia and Moldova Permanent Normal Trade Relations and to sanction persons who are responsible for gross violations of human rights in Russia,” according to White House records.

December 27, 2012 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law banning American’s from adopting Russian children.

February 12, 2013 – President Obama states in his State of the Union Address that he will seek to “engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands,” according to the Atlantic.

August 2013 – President Obama cancels his meeting with Russian President Putin after the country after Russia granted asylum to leaker Edward Snowden, according to CNN.

September 11, 2013 – Putin authors an article titled “A plea for caution from Russia” for the New York Times. In the article, he criticizes President Obama.

March 2014 – Russian President Putin signs Crimea annexation, according to BBC.

March 15, 2014 – The United Nations Security Council blocks a referendum on Crimea. “Resolution would have reaffirmed Ukraine's “sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity” and declared that Sunday's referendum which could lead to Crimea's break with Ukraine and union with Russia, “can have no validity,” according to the United Nations. Russia vetoed the referendum.

March 26, 2014 – During remarks in Brussels President Obama chastised Russia for anti-gay rights laws, according to CNN.

June 2014 – Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne resort in Northern Ireland

September 28, 2015- At the United Nations headquarters in New York, President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have a bilateral meeting. The two officials did not reach a common ground over the contentious issue of Syria. During an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Putin chastised President Obama for a failed Pentagon program that would have trained and equip moderate Syrian rebels.

September 30, 2015 – According to the New York Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the conflict in Syria stating their actions were “preventative” measures to hurt militants terrorists.

October 7, 2015 – According to Reuters, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said, “we are not prepared to cooperate in a strategy, which as we explained, is flawed - tragically flawed - on the Russians' part,” with respect to coordinating with Russia in Syria’s war.

October 21, 2015 – Russian President Putin meets with Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to the Kremlin. Putin says Russia will “provide effective aid to the Syrian people in fighting the international terrorists who have unleashed a genuine war against Syria.”

October 3, 2016 – The United States suspends bilateral talks with Russia over the conflict in Syria. According to Reuters that same day, Putin suspended an agreement with the United States regarding weapons-grade plutonium.

November 8, 2016 – Donald Trump is elected president of the United States.

November 17, 2016 – The Kremlin accused President Obama of trying to damage the U.S. Russia relationship during his time in office, according to Business Insider.

February 2017 – President Trump said in an interview that he respects Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world — that's a good thing," Trump said.

May 2, 2017 – President Trump speaks over the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

May 17, 2017Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to give over his records of “President Donald Trump's discussions with Russian diplomats in which Trump is said to have disclosed classified information.”

June 1, 2017 – Russian President Putin says the Russian state has never been involved in hacking.

July 7, 2017 – President Trump meets with Russian President Putin at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Editor’s Note: Biographical facts on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s early life were obtained through his biography page on the Kremlin’s website unless otherwise cited.

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