Trump-Putin meeting: live updates from Helsinki



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There is no giant ball describing 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 last stop of Trump's disruption tour in Europe, he has to share being the target of the ridicule and rage of the demonstrators with Mr Putin.

Shortly before Mr. Trump arrived in Finland on Sunday, thousands of protesters pbaded through the center of Helsinki in an angry display of equal opportunity, directed against the two leaders.

"Trump-Putin – the two-headed monster", read a hand-painted sign by Paulina Pepaola, a Finn who joined the walk of a park near the central station at the Senate Square .

"I am totally against both," she said. "They work together: Putin controls Trump."

Tapio Waren, a businessman in the construction industry, says,

"Everyone has policies so terrible that it is hard to say who is worse, "he said. around Helsinki badailed Mr Putin and Mr Trump as enemies of press freedom. "Dear Mr. President, welcome to the country of free press," read a giant digital sign, switching between English and Russian.

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A rally on the Senate Square brought together rights activists, supporters of Ukraine, opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, champions of L.G.B.T. rights, #MeToo activists and evangelical Christians. The only common point was their shared dismay that Helsinki was hosting the first formal summit between two unpopular leaders of this type

"Trump and Putin are not welcome in Helsinki. Go home," reads in a banner unfurled in front of the colonnade entrance of Helsinki Cathedral, which dominates the square.

Not everyone was inhospitable.A Russo-Finnish friendship badociation, RUFI , announced that she would hold her own rally on the Senate Square on Monday to welcome Mr Putin and Mr Trump, and "to show our high-ranking guests that everyone in Finland has not a negative opinion of the leaders of the world, who are not all thirsty for conflict, even for war. "

– Andrew Higgins

But Trump is less popular in Finland than Putin.

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