Washington - Donald Trump has backtracked on a proposal to work with Russia to create an "impenetrable" cybersecurity unit to prevent election hacking. Hours after promoting the idea on Sunday, the US president said that he did not think it could actually happen. The idea of a partnership with Russia was ridiculed by senior Republicans. It comes after Mr Trump's first face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany on Friday, in which the pair discussed the issue. Mr Trump described the outcome of the talks as positive and suggested closer co-operation between the two nations. Putin and I discussed forming an impenetrable cybersecurity unit so that election hacking, and many other negative things, will be guarded and safe," he said. The initial proposal immediately prompted derision from Democrats, as well as some Republicans who questioned why the US would work with Russia after the Kremlin's alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
Mr Trump shifted his position on Sunday night. "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a cybersecurity unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't," he tweeted. However, he stressed that another issue discussed in his talks with Mr Putin, a ceasefire in south-western Syria, had come into effect.(FA)
