Vladimir Putin will always have Helsinki.
Three years ago this July, former President Donald Trump stood side by side with the Russian autocrat at a press conference in Finland's capital and blithely dismissed assessments from his own intelligence agencies, defense officials and American lawmakers about Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
"President Putin says it's not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be," Trump said on July 16, 2018, echoing Putin's denials after the two men had been behind closed doors for nearly two hours.
When President Joe Biden meets with Putin on Wednesday for a one-day summit in Geneva, Switzerland, the West's favorite geopolitical bogeyman is not likely to get the easy pass he got from Trump, according to U.S. and Russian foreign affairs experts.
