President Vladimir Putin felt insulted by allegations of Russian interference in the US election, Donald Trump has said after meeting him briefly at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam.
“You can only ask so many times… he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election,” the US president said.
Mr Putin later dismissed the allegations as “political infighting”.
The US intelligence community has already concluded that Russia tried to sway the poll in favour of Mr Trump.
The US justice department has appointed special investigator Robert Mueller to examine any possible co-ordination from Mr Trump’s team, and several key former aides have already been named.
Last month, campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
Former campaign manager Paul Manafort and an associate were also placed under house arrest on charges of money laundering which are unrelated to the election.