2016 ELECTION/NATO/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Helsinki summit allowed Russia’s President Putin to stand on an ‘even footing’ with US counterpart Donald Trump, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told CNN Monday [7-16-18] . In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Niinistö, who held separate meetings with both men in the Finnish capital, welcomed the dialogue between the two nations. But he warned that Putin would leave Helsinki carrying ‘a kind of burden’ with questions still looming over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Crimea and the ongoing sanctions imposed on Moscow by the US and European Union…Niinistö refrained from commenting on the afternoon’s press conference in which Trump, standing beside Putin, delivered an astonishing rebuke of the US intelligence community as he declined to endorse his government’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign. Instead, Niinistö preferred to concentrate on his meeting with Trump, and the American President’s position on NATO. While Finland, which shares a border with Russia, is not a full member of NATO, it does enjoy a partnership with the organization.”
–James Masters, “Helsinki summit put Putin on an ‘even footing’ with Trump, says Finnish President,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 16, 2018 4:42 pm