--- title: Donald Trump Blames U.S. for Poor Relations With Russia description: Hours before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump claimed U.S.-Russia relations have "NEVER been worse" canonical: https://time.com/5339449/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-never-been-worse/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-16T08:37:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:51:18.195Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Blames U.S. for Poor Relations With Russia og:description: Just hours before a sit-down with Vladimir Putin og:url: https://time.com/5339449/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-never-been-worse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66e793e73e065190/69893570bc6cfc5d3f3e676c/gettyimages-872734326.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: VIETNAM-APEC-SUMMIT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Blames U.S. for Poor Relations With Russia twitter:description: Just hours before a sit-down with Vladimir Putin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66e793e73e065190/69893570bc6cfc5d3f3e676c/gettyimages-872734326.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Blames 'U.S. Foolishness' for Poor Relations With Russia by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jul 16, 2018 8:37 AM UTC  President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk as the make their way to take the "family photo" during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on Nov. 11, 2017. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk as the make their way to take the "family photo" during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on Nov. 11, 2017.Jorge Silva—AFP/Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jul 16, 2018 8:37 AM UTC In the lead-up to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump took to Twitter Monday claiming U.S.-Russia relations have “NEVER been worse,” blaming the U.S. for damaging the bilateral relationship. Amid an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Trump blamed “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity” and what he called a “Rigged Witch Hunt” for worsening ties between the two countries. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1018738368753078273) Trump is due to meet one-on-one with Putin and interpreters in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, on Monday. The meeting follows a [tense NATO Summit](http://time.com/5336416/trump-nato-summit-putin-russia-germany/) last week, at which Trump antagonized U.S. allies by suggesting that other NATO countries weren’t contributing enough to defense spending. The Justice Department announced the [indictment](http://time.com/5338172/rod-rosenstein-russian-hacking-charges/) of 12 Russian intelligence agents Friday for hacking the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and state election systems, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5339449/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-never-been-worse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5339449/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-never-been-worse/"},"headline":"President Trump Blames 'U.S. Foolishness' for Poor Relations With Russia","datePublished":"2018-07-16T08:37:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:51:18.195Z","description":"Just hours before a sit-down with Vladimir Putin","url":"https://time.com/5339449/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-never-been-worse/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","russia","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66e793e73e065190/69893570bc6cfc5d3f3e676c/gettyimages-872734326.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt66e793e73e065190/69893570bc6cfc5d3f3e676c/gettyimages-872734326.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"VIETNAM-APEC-SUMMIT","caption":"VIETNAM-APEC-SUMMIT","creditText":"Jorge Silva—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5339449/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-never-been-worse/","name":"President Trump Blames 'U.S. Foolishness' for Poor Relations With Russia"}}]}] ```