"It is a proposal made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "Hopefully, President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt."

Putin said after a summit with Trump in Helsinki on Monday that he might be willing to let US Justice Department investigators question 12 Russians charged with interfering with the 2016 US election if the United States agreed to let Russian investigators question several US citizens.