WASHINGTON 15 Jul (ANA) - US President Trump has said he has "low expectations" for his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Finland on Monday.

 

But he told CBS News that "nothing bad" and "maybe some good" would come out of the encounter.

 

He also said he would raise the subject of 12 Russians indicted for alleged hacking during the 2016 US election - but "hadn't thought" about asking for their extradition.

 

Russia denies the allegations.

 

There are no extradition arrangements between Russia and the US.

 

There have been calls in the US for Mr Trump to cancel his meeting with Mr Putin over the indictments, announced on Friday by US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

 

Sunday also saw a protest march against the summit in Helsinki, Finland's capital. Demonstrators chanted "media must be free", and carried a banner calling for human rights.

 

Russia has said it is looking forward to the talks as a vehicle for improving relations.

 

He said he "believed in meetings" and said his meetings with the North Korean and Chinese leaders had been a "very good thing".

 

"I think it's a good thing to meet. I do believe in meetings. I believe that having a meeting with Chairman Kim was a good thing. I think having meetings with the president of China was a very good thing. I believe it's really good. So having meetings with Russia, China, North Korea, I believe in it. Nothing bad is going to come out of it, and maybe some good will come out," he said.

 

"I can't tell you what's going to happen, but I can tell you what I'll be asking for. And we'll see if something comes of it," he added.

 

 

Mr Trump also repeated his earlier criticism of the Obama administration, which was in power when the alleged hacking of Democratic party officials took place.

 

"This was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration," he said.

 

"The DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked. They had bad defences and they were able to be hacked," he added.

 

He said he had been told "by a number of people" that hackers had also targeted the Republican party but "we had much better defences", although he added that "this may be wrong".(ANA)

FA/ANA/15 July 2018--------