The Putin-Trump summit is a "political minefield" awaiting the West

LONDON (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putinare set to meet in Helsinki on Monday after months of mutual courtesy. 

The summit represents a possible political minefield at home for Trump, while a geopolitical victory for his Russian counterpart. 

Neither side expects the talks in the Finnish capital to yield major breakthroughs except for good words, an agreement to repair deteriorating US-Russian relations and perhaps an agreement on starting talks on issues such as nuclear weapons and Syria
The two leaders, who have praised each other's potential for leadership, may also agree to start increasing the number of workers in their country's embassies and the return of confiscated diplomatic property after a wave of expulsion and punitive moves following the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. 

Before the summit, the two sides played down the value of the event as Trump told CBS that he would enter the summit with "low expectations" while John Bolton, national security adviser to Trump, told ABC that the United States was not looking for "achievements" "The meeting will not be organized. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told RT television that his expectations were also low. He said he would consider the summit a success if only an agreement had been reached to reform the lines of communication between the two sides. 

For Putin, the fact of holding the summit, despite the near pariah status in RussiaSome of the Americans and allies of Washington, is a geopolitical victory because it shows, for the Russians, that Washington recognized by Moscow as a superpower should put their interests into account. 

For Russia, it is also a national indicator that Western efforts to isolate it have failed. 

But for Trump, who has recently been accused of winning the White House, he has received the active support of 12 Russian military intelligence agents, whose members are still under investigation for possible complicity with Moscow, the summit is fraught with political risks. 

"We can say with confidence that the political risks to Putin are far less than those of President Trump," said Andrei Kortenov, director of the Moscow-based REAC Research Institute, close to the State Department. According to Reuters.

"Putin has little to lose and has much to gain because he has no opposition at home, no parliament that may be hostile, and he is not under investigation like Trump, but if you look at the US media they are mainly focused on potential risks. That this summit will end on the good. " 

Trump's presidency was overshadowed by an investigation into allegations of Russia's intervention in the 2016 presidential election. Trump denied any complicity with the Russians from his campaign, and Moscow denied it intervened.