[416]

Europe
Putin and Trump shaking hands at the G20 Osaka summit, June 2019
Russia
The Trump administration "water[ed] down the toughest penalties the U.S. had imposed on Russian entities" after its 2014 annexation of Crimea.[417][418] Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, citing alleged Russian non-compliance,[419] and supported a potential return of Russia to the G7.[420]
Trump repeatedly praised and rarely criticized Russian president Vladimir Putin,[421][422] but opposed some actions of the Russian government.[423][424] After he met Putin at the Helsinki Summit in July 2018, Trump drew bipartisan criticism for accepting Putin's denial of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, rather than accepting the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies.[425][426][427] Trump did not discuss alleged Russian bounties offered to Taliban fighters for attacking American soldiers in Afghanistan with Putin, saying both that he doubted the intelligence and that he was not briefed on it.[428]

Personnel
Main articles: Political appointments by Donald Trump and Cabinet of Donald Trump
The Trump administration had a high turnover of personnel, particularly among White House staff. 