President Obama said he may weigh in on Trump presidency following final awkward Putin meeting

BARACK Obama issued a final warning during his last trip overseas, after enduring a frosty meeting with Vladimir Putin.

U.S. President Barack Obama comes face-to-face with Russia's President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the US election. Picture: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais.

PRESIDENT Obama has warned President-elect Donald Trump he may not be silent once he has left office if he felt certain “values and ideals” were being neglected.

Speaking during his last overseas visit as leader at the APEC forum in Lima, Peru, the President said he would give the new administration a chance to make their case, but was still an “American citizen who cares deeply about our country.”

“I want to be respectful of the office and give the President-elect an opportunity to put forward his platform and his arguments without somebody popping off,” he said.

However if an issue went to the “core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it’s necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I’ll examine it when it comes”.

Former Presidents usually stay out of political affairs once they have left office in order to give their successor a chance to create their own mark.

The outgoing President, who also met the German Chancellor Angela Merkel shortly before she announced she would run for a fourth term in Germany, said he was adopting a “wait and see” approach and he was sure the gravity of the position would affect Mr Trump’s attitudes.

“Once you’re in the Oval Office, once you begin interacting with world leaders, once you see the complexities of the issues, that has a way of shaping your thinking.”

He said he will focus on finishing his job in the next two months before planning to “take Michelle on vacation, get some rest, spend time with my girls, and do some writing, do some thinking.”

It’s the first time the two leaders have met since the election of Donald Trump. Picture: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais.

Relations between the US and Russia have reached their lowest point since the Cold War between the two leaders after Russian actions in Crimea, Ukraine and Syria. Picture: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Russian hackers are thought to be behind leaks which targeted the Democrats in the US presidential race. Picture: AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski

The President also came face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir for the first time since the US election.

Pictures show the pair eyeing each other and engaged in an awkward handshake at the event where they held a four minute conversation. The pair talked about Ukraine and the crisis in Syria, although Obama said the US accusation that Russia had tried to influence the election outcome through hacking top Democrats, did not come up.

The Peru trip comes at a time when there is widespread uncertainty over global political stability in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia.

European countries have committed to building up forces in Baltic States and Donald Trump has thrown into doubt the US commitment to protecting countries who do not commit spending 2 per cent of their GDP on defence — a condition of NATO membership.

Putin later said he had a difficult working relationship with Obama but the pair “always respected each other’s positions - and each other.”

He said he told Obama he would be welcome in Russia “at any time”.

- With AP