The ongoing tensions in Ukraine have inspired chatter on social media about former President Donald Trump’s stance toward Russian leader Vladimir Putin, particularly during an infamous 2018 meeting between the two in Finland.
As of Tuesday, hundreds of people were tweeting messages with “Trump” and “Helsinki” together.
During the Helsinki summit, Mr Trump said he believed Mr Putin’s “extremely strong and powerful” denials about meddling in the 2016 election, contradicting the findings of US intelligence services.
"I have president Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be," Mr Trump said, standing next to the Russian president. “So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
The comments caused quite a stir at the time, especially given the international intrigue element of the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation, and they are making waves once again now that all eyes are on Vladimir Putin as Russia continues to invade Ukraine.
In January, Mr Trump claimed, "What’s happening with Russia and Ukraine would never have happened under the Trump administration. Not even a possibility!" But many online weren’t so sure.
“To every Republican that is blaming President Biden for causing this conflict, remember this famous line said by Donald Trump in Helsinki,” wrote attorney and Democratic strategist Aaron Parnas on Twitter on Monday, quoting from Mr Trump’s acceptance of Mr Putin’s denials.
Responding to comments from GOP Senator Marco Rubio accusing president Biden of weakness on Russia, former congressman Joe Walsh responded on Twitter on Monday, “Was it weak when Trump gave Syria to Russia? Was it weak when he tried to break up NATO? Was it weak when he kissed Putin’s feet in Helsinki? Was it weak when he changed the 2016 GOP platform to ignore Ukraine? Was it weak when he withheld military aid to Ukraine?”
The writer David Weissman highlighted the great lengths Mr Trump undertook to conceal the content of his conversations with Putin from the public and even members of his own administration, including taking possession of interpreter notes, instructing linguists not to discuss what happened with other administration officials, and having off-the-books conversations with Mr Putin on the sidelines of world events.
“Whatever happened to the translater (sic) of the Trump and Putin meeting in Helsinki 2018?” Mr Weissman wrote. “With everything escalating between Russia and Ukraine, I can’t help but wonder what was said between Trump and Putin.”
When pressed by reporters about his dealings with the Russian leader, Mr Trump said, “What I say to him is none of your business.”
Outside of the political spin machine, however, both administrations arrived at relatively similar substantive policies on Putin and Ukraine: sanctioning Russians tied to aggression in the country; funneling military aid to Ukrainian forces; maintaining the US’s long-running, if vague, support for eventual NATO membership for Ukraine; and pushing back against Russia’s landmark Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe.
