German FM Warns Trump Against 'Unilateral Deals at Expense of Allies' With Putin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump should not unilaterally reach agreements with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the expense of Washington's European allies during the two presidents' upcoming summit in Helsinki, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said.

"Unilateral deals at the expense of the allies will harm the United States, too. The one who hits his partners risks to lose eventually," Maas told the German Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview, released on Sunday.

The German foreign minister also expressed hope that the US-Russian high-level talks would help reach progress in nuclear disarmament.

"We have always said that dialogue with Russia is necessary," Maas added.

Trump and Putin will meet in the Finnish capital on Monday. Officials from both nations have said that Syrian and Ukrainian crises, as well as bilateral relations will be on the talks agenda.

READ MORE: Summit's Mobile App Reveals Details of Putin-Trump Direct Talks in Helsinki

Earlier this week, Trump met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the NATO annual summit in Brussels. The meeting was held amid Trump's criticism of Germany over what the US president called the excessive reliance of Berlin on Russian gas. Merkel denied Trump's claims that Germany was a "captive" of Russia, saying that Berlin acted independently in its foreign policies.