US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet in an official capacity for the first time this Friday, the Kremlin has confirmed.

The two world leaders are due to sit down on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, which begins on Friday.

The engagement was announced on Tuesday morning. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti carried news of the meeting, citing Putin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Trump and Putin’s meeting is the most-anticipated encounter in international relations.

It comes against a backdrop of allegations in the US that Trump's campaign was helped to victory last year by colluding with Russia.

A congressional committee has launched an investigation into alleged interference in the election, which was described this weekend as "the successor to Watergate". Putin has described the allegations as "nonsense" and said the US is developing "political schizophrenia" over the issue.

According to reports last week, Trump has asked White House officials to give him a list of "deliverables" which he can offer to the Russian president.

There was speculation that these could include an offer to ease economic sanctions on Russia. It was unclear what Trump might hope for in return. The White House did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by Business Insider last week.

Speaking on Monday, before the meeting was confirmed, Ushakov speculated that the two would discuss the threat of terrorism and the situation in Syria.

He told reporters: "We have a lot of issues, which should be discussed at the highest level ... That's why this meeting, this first personal contact, is so important.

"I've heard the Americans want to raise the issues of terrorism and Syria. It seems to me that would be pretty reasonable." He added that current relations between the US and Russia relations are at "zero level."

Trump and Putin: The first meeting?

The meeting will be the first time the two men have met since Trump was elected last year - and potentially their first ever meeting.

Before he became president, Trump boasted repeatedly about the closeness of his relationship with Putin.

In May 2014, he told the National Press Club: " I own Miss Universe, I was in Russia, I was in Moscow recently and I spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer, and we had a tremendous success."

In a speech two months before to the Conservative Political Action Conference conference, he said Putin had sent him "a beautiful present" during the visit. In a tweet from 2013, apparently referring to the Miss Universe event, Trump wondered aloud whether Putin might become "my new best friend."

But in a presidential debate weeks before the election, Trump denied that he had met Putin, or knew him at all.

In a head-to-head with Hillary Clinton, he told the audience: "I don't know Putin. I have no idea. I never met Putin. This is not my best friend."