Lipponen and Halonen downplay Wikileaks revelation of 2004 meeting with Putin
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President Tarja Halonen had little to say on Wednesday after a US State Department paper of a conversation between her and then-Russian President Vladimir Putin was disclosed by Wikileaks.
In a lengthy commentary issued on Wednesday, the President’s office said that “it is natural that we hold discussions, and it is part of the jobs of some people”.
A US Embassy document made public by Wikileaks indicates that the Finns told the the Americans that Putin completely rejects any changes in the border between Finland and Russia. The Russian leader also voiced frustration with Western politics.
The document concerns a meeting between Halonen and Putin in St. Petersburg on December 14th, 2004. The leak was first reported by the Russian publication Russki reporter, and in Finland, it was covered on Wednesday by the late-edition Ilta-Sanomat.
Halonen did not comment on the first document leaked by Wikileaks which focuses on Finland. The President’s office repeated the view that President Halonen is following the matter with great interest.
Other comments were even shorter, ranging from “no comment” to “it was normal”, and “so what”.
In addition to President Halonen, former Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen also commented on the matter. He had been named in the document as one of the sources of information for the United States.
Lipponen’s response was the English language expression “so what”.
Some anonymous and unofficial comments pointed out that giving US diplomats in Helsinki information about discussion between Presidents Halonen and Putin is normal international practice.
The meeting took place at an interesting and sensitive time. Putin, who had just started his second term as President, was increasingly bitter in his assessments of relations between Russia and the West. In addition, Russian diplomats had needled Finland in their public statements.
According to the description drawn up in Finland, Putin had been “frustrated, stressed, and worried” during the meeting in St. Petersburg. Putin’s irritation at the expansion of the west near the borders with Russia anticipated more tension in relations in the years that followed the meeting.
According to the leaked document, which was drafted by Robert Weisberg, the number-two man at the US Embassy in Helsinki at the time, information of the meeting between the two presidents had been given by Jarmo Viinanen, the Chief of Staff of President Halonen, as well as Olli Perheentupa, director of the Russian affairs unit of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
If the meeting had taken place according to standard procedure, Weisberg should have first gone to the Finnish Foreign Ministry to hear about the visit. It was not clear on Wednesday where the people met.
Lipponen gave his thoughts on the Halonen-Putin meeting separately to the US Ambassador. According to various sources, Lipponen had been a regular guest at the US Embassy.
The document deviates from standard diplomatic practice in the part that deals with Karelia. Weisberg’s paper shows that the Finns had said that Putin took up the Karelia question at his own initiative, and rejected ideas of any border changes in the area that was ceded to the Soviet Union after the war.
It did not describe the overall feeling and passage of the meeting between the presidents. Instead, it contained detailed information, something that one source says is unusual.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 3.2.2011 - TODAY |
 Lipponen and Halonen downplay Wikileaks revelation of 2004 meeting with Putin |
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