Putin deems his Helsinki summit with Trump a success

President Trump isn't the only one who thinks his Monday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin went well. Putin himself on Thursday deemed the Helsinki summit "successful," The Associated Press reports. And he isn't happy with Trump critics who have said otherwise.

Before the summit, Putin thought U.S.-Russia relations were "in some ways worse than during the Cold War," he told Russian diplomats Thursday, per AP. But his meeting with Trump put the two countries on "the path to positive change."

After the summit, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats felt the need to remind everyone that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Republicans, Democrats, and intelligence officials widely criticized Trump for going soft on Putin, but Putin said Thursday these "forces" are simply trying to block an improvement in U.S.-Russia relations.

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Still, he's open to seeing "how things develop further" with America, and expressed interested in cooperating in the Syria war and arms control, AP reports.