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| Trump Meets Putin: Live Updates From Helsinki | Trump Meets Putin: Live Updates From Helsinki |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Right Now: President Trump is in Helsinki, Finland, for his first summit meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. | Right Now: President Trump is in Helsinki, Finland, for his first summit meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. |
| President Trump will hold one-on-one talks on Monday with Mr. Putin at an exceptionally awkward time, just days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents on charges of hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. But Mr. Trump blamed the United States for the tensions between the countries, not Russia. | |
| The meeting will cap a weeklong trip to Europe in which Mr. Trump made his distaste for diplomatic norms abundantly clear: He caused turmoil at the NATO summit meeting and during a visit to Britain by demanding that allies spend more on defense, saying that Prime Minister Theresa May was mishandling Brexit, advising her to sue the European Union over the issue and calling the bloc a “trade foe.” | The meeting will cap a weeklong trip to Europe in which Mr. Trump made his distaste for diplomatic norms abundantly clear: He caused turmoil at the NATO summit meeting and during a visit to Britain by demanding that allies spend more on defense, saying that Prime Minister Theresa May was mishandling Brexit, advising her to sue the European Union over the issue and calling the bloc a “trade foe.” |
| • The meeting on Monday will be closely scrutinized for signs of whether Mr. Trump is friendlier to his Russian counterpart than he was to the NATO leaders or to Mrs. May. | |
| • Mr. Putin proposed the meeting in March during a phone call with Mr. Trump, and American officials say the Russian leader desperately needs Washington to ease sanctions that have squeezed his country’s economy and oligarchs. | • Mr. Putin proposed the meeting in March during a phone call with Mr. Trump, and American officials say the Russian leader desperately needs Washington to ease sanctions that have squeezed his country’s economy and oligarchs. |
| • American observers on both sides of the political aisle fear that Mr. Trump, who dislikes policy briefings and has said he needed no preparation for the meeting, could be an easy mark for manipulation by Mr. Putin, a former intelligence agent whom Mr. Trump has refused to criticize directly. | • American observers on both sides of the political aisle fear that Mr. Trump, who dislikes policy briefings and has said he needed no preparation for the meeting, could be an easy mark for manipulation by Mr. Putin, a former intelligence agent whom Mr. Trump has refused to criticize directly. |
| • The New York Times has live coverage of his seven-day, three-nation trip, from our White House reporters and European correspondents. Photographs from Mr. Trump’s trip are here. | • The New York Times has live coverage of his seven-day, three-nation trip, from our White House reporters and European correspondents. Photographs from Mr. Trump’s trip are here. |
| Mr. Trump began the day of the meeting by blaming the United States for its poor relationship with Russia, casting aspersions on the federal investigation into Moscow’s cyberattack on the 2016 presidential election, even as he said he felt “just fine” about meeting with Mr. Putin. | |
| In a pair of tweets sent on Monday before he headed for breakfast at Mantyniemi Palace, a residence of the Finnish president, Mr. Trump twice branded the special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference the “Rigged Witch Hunt.” That investigation, and “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity,” he wrote, are why the United States’ relationship with Russia “has NEVER been worse.” | In a pair of tweets sent on Monday before he headed for breakfast at Mantyniemi Palace, a residence of the Finnish president, Mr. Trump twice branded the special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference the “Rigged Witch Hunt.” That investigation, and “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity,” he wrote, are why the United States’ relationship with Russia “has NEVER been worse.” |
| He did not mention factors that are usually cited in the West as causes for friction with Moscow: Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its support for rebels in Ukraine and for the Assad regime in Syria, its meddling in the elections of the United States and in those of other countries, and the nerve agent poisonings in England that the British government has said the Kremlin was behind. | |
| The president’s tweet drew a “like” from the Russian Foreign Ministry. | |
| Mr. Trump also lashed out at former President Barack Obama for the second day in a row, tweeting that his predecessor had failed to intervene to stop Russia’s hacking because he “thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election.” | Mr. Trump also lashed out at former President Barack Obama for the second day in a row, tweeting that his predecessor had failed to intervene to stop Russia’s hacking because he “thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election.” |
| The messages suggested that Mr. Trump, who has never directly condemned Mr. Putin for the election meddling and has cast doubt on whether he even agrees with his own intelligence community’s finding that it was carried out by Moscow, has not changed his stance in the wake of the indictment last week of 12 Russian agents in the attack. | The messages suggested that Mr. Trump, who has never directly condemned Mr. Putin for the election meddling and has cast doubt on whether he even agrees with his own intelligence community’s finding that it was carried out by Moscow, has not changed his stance in the wake of the indictment last week of 12 Russian agents in the attack. |
| Mr. Trump has said that he will ask Mr. Putin about the meddling during their talks but that he does not expect the Russian president to admit culpability and that the issue is primarily an obstacle to his desire to improve relations between the United States and Russia. | Mr. Trump has said that he will ask Mr. Putin about the meddling during their talks but that he does not expect the Russian president to admit culpability and that the issue is primarily an obstacle to his desire to improve relations between the United States and Russia. |
| Later, at the breakfast with President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and his wife, Mr. Trump telegraphed confidence about the summit meetings, saying, “We’ll do just fine.” — Julie Hirschfeld Davis | Later, at the breakfast with President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and his wife, Mr. Trump telegraphed confidence about the summit meetings, saying, “We’ll do just fine.” — Julie Hirschfeld Davis |
| Mr. Trump, who disparaged American allies during last week’s NATO meeting, tweeted on Monday that he had “received many calls from leaders of NATO countries thanking me” for pressuring other nations to spend more on their militaries. | |
| He did not name the leaders or their countries. | |
| The president has been similarly short on specifics about his claim on Thursday that in response to his demands, other member nations had pledged major increases in military spending. He did not name countries, give dollar amounts or timetables. | |
| The official communiqué from the meeting committed the countries to the same spending increases they agreed to four years ago, and the president of France and the prime minister of Italy both said after Mr. Trump spoke that t no new commitments were made. | |
| Mr. Trump unsettled the alliance — even appearing to suggest behind closed doors, some diplomats said, that the United States could withdraw from it — in ways that analysts said could work to the benefit of Mr. Putin. | |
| But in his tweet, Mr. Trump called the summit “truly great” and “inaccurately covered by much of the media.” | |
| And at a breakfast on Monday with President Sauli Niinisto of Finland, Mr. Trump said his tactics had been just the tough love needed to strengthen the alliance. | |
| “I enjoyed being with you a couple of days ago,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Niinisto. “NATO has, I think, never been stronger. It was a little bit tough at the beginning, but it turned out to be love. I appreciated your support.” | |
| It was not clear what support Mr. Trump was referring to. Mr. Niinisto attended the NATO gathering, but Finland is not a NATO member, so he would not have been in a position to help the president’s push for more military spending. — Julie Hirschfeld Davis | |
| They have called each other and met publicly at least twice on the sidelines of international events: at the Group of 20 summit meeting last July in Hamburg, Germany, and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in November in Danang, Vietnam. | They have called each other and met publicly at least twice on the sidelines of international events: at the Group of 20 summit meeting last July in Hamburg, Germany, and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in November in Danang, Vietnam. |
| But Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are holding their first formal summit meeting in Helsinki on Monday. | But Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are holding their first formal summit meeting in Helsinki on Monday. |
| According to the office of the Finnish president, Sauli Niinisto, the American and Russian leaders will sit down at the 19th-century presidential palace. Some likely topics of discussion: nuclear proliferation, Syria, Iran, Ukraine and Russian election meddling, to name a few. | According to the office of the Finnish president, Sauli Niinisto, the American and Russian leaders will sit down at the 19th-century presidential palace. Some likely topics of discussion: nuclear proliferation, Syria, Iran, Ukraine and Russian election meddling, to name a few. |
| To tighten security for the meeting, Finland said it had temporarily reinstated border passport controls for travelers from the Schengen area, the 26 European nations that ordinarily allow people to cross from one country to another without border checks. The controls began on Friday and will last for four days. | To tighten security for the meeting, Finland said it had temporarily reinstated border passport controls for travelers from the Schengen area, the 26 European nations that ordinarily allow people to cross from one country to another without border checks. The controls began on Friday and will last for four days. |
| It was in the Finnish capital in 1975 that President Gerald R. Ford and the Soviet leader then, Leonid I. Brezhnev, along with other European leaders, signed the Helsinki Accords. The Soviets had pushed for the deal to cement their expanded borders, and Western nations used it to pressure the Soviets on human rights and other issues. | It was in the Finnish capital in 1975 that President Gerald R. Ford and the Soviet leader then, Leonid I. Brezhnev, along with other European leaders, signed the Helsinki Accords. The Soviets had pushed for the deal to cement their expanded borders, and Western nations used it to pressure the Soviets on human rights and other issues. |
| It was also in Helsinki that Mr. Brezhnev offered to help Mr. Ford win the next presidential election, according to a former White House arms control adviser. | It was also in Helsinki that Mr. Brezhnev offered to help Mr. Ford win the next presidential election, according to a former White House arms control adviser. |
| There is no giant balloon portraying Mr. Trump as a big angry baby in diapers in the Finnish capital, as there was in London last week and in Edinburgh on Saturday. In Helsinki, the final stop of Mr. Trump’s disruption tour of Europe, he has to share being the target of protesters’ ridicule and rage with Mr. Putin. | There is no giant balloon portraying Mr. Trump as a big angry baby in diapers in the Finnish capital, as there was in London last week and in Edinburgh on Saturday. In Helsinki, the final stop of Mr. Trump’s disruption tour of Europe, he has to share being the target of protesters’ ridicule and rage with Mr. Putin. |
| Shortly before Mr. Trump arrived in Finland on Sunday, thousands of protesters marched through the center of Helsinki in a display of equal-opportunity anger, directed at both leaders. | Shortly before Mr. Trump arrived in Finland on Sunday, thousands of protesters marched through the center of Helsinki in a display of equal-opportunity anger, directed at both leaders. |
| “Trump-Putin — the two-headed monster,” read a hand-painted sign carried by Paulina Pepaola, a Finnish woman who joined the march from a park near the central train station to Senate Square. | “Trump-Putin — the two-headed monster,” read a hand-painted sign carried by Paulina Pepaola, a Finnish woman who joined the march from a park near the central train station to Senate Square. |
| “I am totally against both of them,” she said. “They are working together. Putin controls Trump.” | “I am totally against both of them,” she said. “They are working together. Putin controls Trump.” |
| Tapio Waren, a businessman in the construction industry, said, | |
| “each one has such terrible policies it is hard to say who is worse,” he said. | |
| More than 280 billboards around Helsinki assailed Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump as enemies of press freedom. “Dear Mr. President, welcome to the land of free press,” read one giant digital sign, toggling between English and Russian. | |
| A rally in Senate Square brought together rights activists, supporters of Ukraine, opponents of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, champions of L.G.B.T. rights, #MeToo campaigners and evangelical Christians. The only common thread was their shared dismay that Helsinki was hosting the first formal summit meeting between two such unpopular leaders. | |
| “Trump and Putin are not welcome in Helsinki. Go home,” read a banner unfurled outside the colonnaded entrance to Helsinki Cathedral, which dominates the square. | “Trump and Putin are not welcome in Helsinki. Go home,” read a banner unfurled outside the colonnaded entrance to Helsinki Cathedral, which dominates the square. |
| Not everyone was inhospitable. A Russian-Finnish friendship association, RUFI, announced that it would hold its own rally in Senate Square on Monday to welcome Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump, and “to show our highly placed guests that not everybody in Finland has a negative view of world leaders, that not all thirst for conflict, even war.” | |
| — Andrew Higgins | — Andrew Higgins |
| Juho Rahkosen, a pollster in Finland who says he supports some of Mr. Trump’s policies, wishes he had better news for him but can’t ignore the numbers: The American leader is so deeply unpopular in Finland — a Nordic nation of 5.5 million — that even Mr. Putin has more fans. | Juho Rahkosen, a pollster in Finland who says he supports some of Mr. Trump’s policies, wishes he had better news for him but can’t ignore the numbers: The American leader is so deeply unpopular in Finland — a Nordic nation of 5.5 million — that even Mr. Putin has more fans. |
| A survey commissioned by the magazine Seura and conducted by Taloustutkimus, a leading Finish polling organization, found that 83 percent of Finns — and 91 percent of Finnish women — have a negative view of Mr. Trump, compared with 75 percent for Mr. Putin. | A survey commissioned by the magazine Seura and conducted by Taloustutkimus, a leading Finish polling organization, found that 83 percent of Finns — and 91 percent of Finnish women — have a negative view of Mr. Trump, compared with 75 percent for Mr. Putin. |
| “I am ashamed to have a guest in our country while I am publishing such terrible numbers,” said Mr. Rahkosen, the research manager at Taloustutkimus. | “I am ashamed to have a guest in our country while I am publishing such terrible numbers,” said Mr. Rahkosen, the research manager at Taloustutkimus. |
| Even supporters of The Finns, a populist, anti-immigrant political party formerly known as the True Finns, don’t like Mr. Trump much, though they are slightly less down on him than is the population as a whole. | Even supporters of The Finns, a populist, anti-immigrant political party formerly known as the True Finns, don’t like Mr. Trump much, though they are slightly less down on him than is the population as a whole. |
| “Unfortunately, Finland has extremely negative attitudes towards Trump — I’m afraid there is not much he can do about this,” Mr. Rahkosen added, noting that Mr. Trump displays “somewhat the opposite” of the measured honesty, discipline and trust in global institutions that Finns expect in a leader. | “Unfortunately, Finland has extremely negative attitudes towards Trump — I’m afraid there is not much he can do about this,” Mr. Rahkosen added, noting that Mr. Trump displays “somewhat the opposite” of the measured honesty, discipline and trust in global institutions that Finns expect in a leader. |
| — Andrew Higgins | — Andrew Higgins |
| That Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are to meet one on one — with interpreters present but no advisers — has added an element of unpredictability to a high-stakes encounter. | That Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are to meet one on one — with interpreters present but no advisers — has added an element of unpredictability to a high-stakes encounter. |
| Mr. Trump’s perceived admiration of Mr. Putin, his urging at the recent Group of 7 meeting that Russia be readmitted despite its annexation of Crimea and his efforts to minimize United States intelligence about the impact of Moscow’s cyberattacks on the 2016 election have foreign policy experts and some in the White House wondering what he may give away to Mr. Putin — deliberately or inadvertently. | Mr. Trump’s perceived admiration of Mr. Putin, his urging at the recent Group of 7 meeting that Russia be readmitted despite its annexation of Crimea and his efforts to minimize United States intelligence about the impact of Moscow’s cyberattacks on the 2016 election have foreign policy experts and some in the White House wondering what he may give away to Mr. Putin — deliberately or inadvertently. |
| Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, on Friday compared the danger of Russian cyberattacks with the warnings the United States had of increased terrorism threats ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks. “The warning lights are blinking red again,” Mr. Coats said. “The digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.” | Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, on Friday compared the danger of Russian cyberattacks with the warnings the United States had of increased terrorism threats ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks. “The warning lights are blinking red again,” Mr. Coats said. “The digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.” |
| He said Russia should be held to account. | He said Russia should be held to account. |
| Allies including Britain say they welcome the Helsinki meeting, but Mrs. May warned that it must address Russian “malign activity.” (Russia is the chief suspect in an attack using a nerve agent on British soil that led to a woman’s death.) | Allies including Britain say they welcome the Helsinki meeting, but Mrs. May warned that it must address Russian “malign activity.” (Russia is the chief suspect in an attack using a nerve agent on British soil that led to a woman’s death.) |
| Some analysts also note that while Mr. Trump abhors briefing memos, Mr. Putin will be well schooled before the meeting. Analysts say the fact that the meeting is occurring at all is already a victory of sorts for the Russian leader. | Some analysts also note that while Mr. Trump abhors briefing memos, Mr. Putin will be well schooled before the meeting. Analysts say the fact that the meeting is occurring at all is already a victory of sorts for the Russian leader. |
| White House advisers have described the summit meeting as a chance to reset a tense relationship, and Mr. Trump has dismissed concerns, mocking those who point to Mr. Putin’s past as a spymaster, suggesting that he could manipulate the American leader. | White House advisers have described the summit meeting as a chance to reset a tense relationship, and Mr. Trump has dismissed concerns, mocking those who point to Mr. Putin’s past as a spymaster, suggesting that he could manipulate the American leader. |
| “‘You know, President Putin is K.G.B.,’ and this and that,” Mr. Trump said. “You know what? Putin’s fine. He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people. Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I’ve been preparing for this stuff my whole life.” | “‘You know, President Putin is K.G.B.,’ and this and that,” Mr. Trump said. “You know what? Putin’s fine. He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people. Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I’ve been preparing for this stuff my whole life.” |