Sauli Niinistö is stoic, wily, and seems almost wired to be anti-Russian. But that’s not the way he describes the state of play. Finland’s President, responsible for national defense and security, insisted to me during a recent conversation at his residence in Helsinki that his approach toward Russia is one marked by pure pragmatism.There are ties that bind. As Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin liked to visit the city of Turku in southwestern Finland, where Niinistö studied law and worked nearby as a rural police chief early in his career. Even today, when the two Presidents meet, Putin …read more
Source: The American Interest
