US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have met at the presidential palace in Helsinki for crunch talks.

The meeting comes amid high tension between the two countries over a US probe into alleged Russian collusion during the 2016 elections which put Mr Trump in the White House.

Mr Trump has said “the world wants to see us get along” ahead of one-to-one talks.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
Mr Trump and Mr Putin shake hands (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
Body language watchers noted Mr Putin’s more relaxed pose (Heikki Saukkomaa/AP)
Melania and Donald Trump with Mr Putin
Mr Trump would not answer questions about alleged collusion at the initial meeting (Alexei Nikolsky/AP)
Mr Trump and Mr Putin
Mr Trump has expressed hopes that the two countries can get along better than they have in recent years (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
The Finnish PM and his wife
Finnish president Sauli Niinisto and his wife Jenni Haukio join the two presidents and the US first lady (Alexei Nikolsky/AP)
Donald Trump
Mr Trump also made positive comments about Xi Jinping of China, despite an ongoing trade war (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Vladimir Putin
For Mr Putin, simply having the meeting go ahead will be seen as a diplomatic triumph given the Russian annexation of Crimea (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)