It finally happened. After months of constant press coverage about the two men, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met face-to-face and shook hands. The cordial moment took place Friday ahead of the pair’s sit-down meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, with Trump taking time to give the Russian leader a friendly pat on the back.
The handshake happened as the attending world leaders made small talk while waiting for the summit to kick off. It was Trump who made the first move, approaching Putin, who appeared to be speaking to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, at the time. Trump stuck out his hand, and when Putin accepted, the U.S. president patted the Russian leader’s elbow four times. On Putin’s left, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared to be laughing, possibly at being witness to such a momentous occasion.Another brief video clip shows Trump casually patting Putin on the back as they stand side by side. Both men appeared to be smiling as they exchanged words, though what exactly they said to each other isn’t known. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the pair “shook hands and told each other that they will shortly have a separate meeting.”The pair are scheduled to meet at 3:45 p.m. local time (9:45 a.m. ET) for a 30-minute meeting where they are expected to discuss North Korea, Syria, climate change, and potentially Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. There will likely be more handshakes to come.