The White House has confirmed reports that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second, previously undisclosed meeting during a dinner for G20 leaders and their spouses in Hamburg.
The hour-long meeting was revealed by the president of the international consulting firm Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, who said it was "very animated and very friendly", adding that the lack of an American aide or translator was a "breach of national security protocol", the New York Times reports.
"There is no official United States government record of the intimate dinner conversation, because no American official other than the president was involved," the New York Times says.
According to CNN, US presidents at summits often hold private and impromptu discussions with other world leaders, "however, the lack of immediate disclosure from the administration as well as Trump's own posture with regard to Russia raised significant questions following reports of the discussion having taken place."
Both Trump and the White House sought to downplay the meeting, with officials referring to it as a "brief conversation" and the president deriding the reports as "fake news".
News of the meeting comes amid increasing concerns over alleged collusion between Trump's presidential campaign team and Russia, which have prompted several investigations in the US.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump Jr. revealed a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in the hope of getting information that would prove damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Since then, the New York Times has identified two other people, whom Trump Jr. had not disclosed, were also at the meeting – Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and Russian businessman Irakly Kaveladze.