President Donald Trump invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a summit meeting in the White House at the height of a storm over Moscow’s alleged involvement in a nerve agent attack in Britain, the Kremlin revealed yesterday.

That Mr Trump was willing to afford Mr Putin such an honour just days before the US expelled 60 Russian diplomats in solidarity with the UK over the poisoning of a former spy is another example of what critics say is a bewilderingly erratic approach to Russia.

“When our presidents talked on the phone [after Mr Putin’s re-election], Trump proposed to conduct the first meeting in Washington, in the White House,” said Yuri Ushakov, Mr Putin’s foreign policy adviser. Mr Ushakov called Mr Trump’s invitation “a pretty interesting and positive idea”.