President Trump just responded to a shouted question asking how was the meeting.
Trump said it was a “very good start."
Fallout after Trump-Putin meeting
By Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha, Brian Ries and Sheena McKenzie, CNN
Updated 9:56 p.m. ET, July 17, 2018
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Trump: Private Putin meeting was "a very good start"
It's Helsinki's hottest day in years
From CNN's Brandon Miller
President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin are meeting on one very hot Helsinki day.
The city is currently experiencing its worst heat in several years, and potentially the hottest day since 2010. It is currently 30 degrees Celsius (That's 86 degrees Fahrenheit).
How rare is that? Helsinki averages around one 30°C day every decade, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The average high in Helsinki for mid-July is about 20 degrees Celsius, or about 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Is it a meeting? Or a summit? Or a meeting-summit?
A war of words erupted in the run-up to today's highly anticipated conclave between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
First, it was a "meeting": President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of meeting at the White House during a phone call last month, the White House said in April.
"As the President himself confirmed on March 20, hours after his last call with President Putin, the two had discussed a bilateral meeting in the 'not-too-distant future' at a number of potential venues, including the White House," White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a statement.
Trump-Putin meeting lasting more than 90 minutes
From CNN's Jeremy Diamond
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's one-on-one meeting — with interpreters — is running long.
Reporters were ushered out of the room where the two men were meeting at 2:16 p.m. local time, presumably leaving Trump and Putin alone for their 90 minutes of scheduled solo time. As of this writing, the meeting is still ongoing.
Trump and Putin's bilateral meeting at the G20 summit last year also ran long, with first lady Melania Trump reportedly poking her head in the meeting in an attempt to get Trump back on schedule.
Trump and Putin and their host pose for a photo
The office of Finland's President Sauli Niinistö tweeted this photo of the Finnish leader posing with Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Finland has a long history of hosting diplomatic meetings: The country's historical neutrality and its proximity to Russia made it a choice venue for Cold War era summits.
This is the woman who's interpreting for Trump today
From CNN's Kaitlan Collins
President Trump has his own interpreter in the room for the during his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, a White House official confirms to CNN.
The interpreter is Marina Gross, who has previously translated for the State Department and other government entities. She accompanied first lady Laura Bush to Sochi, Russia, in 2008.
Lavrov and Pompeo holding parallel talks, too
From CNN’s Sebastian Shukla and Antoine Sanfuentes
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also holding talks in Helsinki, both sides said Monday.
The parallel meeting is their first since the appointment of Pompeo as Secretary of State.
What Putin said when he met Trump
Vladimir Putin gave a brief statement in Russian when he posed with President Trump for a photo before their meeting.
Here's the translation:
“Distinguished president, I am delighted to be able to meet you here in Finland. We have been in continual contact by telephone since the last time, and obviously the time has come to have a business-like conversation because there is so much happening in the world that we need to talk about.”
Why Trump wants to meet alone with Putin
From CNN's Kevin Liptak
A US official is laying out three reasons the White House asked the Russian side for the extended one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin to launch the summit.
The official said the request was made during the initial talks to set up the meeting over the course of the past few months.
- Trump requested alone time to better personally assess Putin and develop a leader-to-leader relationship (along the same lines of why he requested to meet Kim Jong Un alone in Singapore).
- Trump has previously expressed anger at leaks coming from his meetings with foreign leaders and told aides he doesn’t want sensitive information leaking from his meeting with Putin.
- Trump doesn’t want aides, who may take a harder line on Russia, undercutting or interrupting him in his conversation with Putin.