Moscow, July 19 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says his first summit with US President Donald Trump was "successful" and is accusing Trump's opponents in the US of hampering any progress on the issues they discussed.

Putin told Russian diplomats today that US-Russian relations are "in some ways worse than during the Cold War" but that his meeting with Trump on Monday allowed them to start on "the path to positive change".

He added, "We will see how things develop further", expressing concern about unnamed "forces" in the US trying to prevent any improvement in relations, notably cooperation in the Syria war or arms control.

In his first comments about the summit, Putin insisted that Russia remains "open to contacts with the US".

Trump has come under widespread domestic criticism about the meeting.