ALPHA

Putin Keeps Trump Waiting, Arrives Late for Meeting

Russian president has long history of making officials wait.

Vladimir Putin—known for asserting his dominance over other politicians by arriving late for meetings—appears to have played the same trick on Donald Trump in Finland. The two men were due to start their bilateral summit at 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) but the Russian president didn’t even land in Helsinki until a few minutes after that time. However, Trump then delayed leaving his hotel—the Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorpp—for the Presidential Palace, where the meeting was set to take place, making Putin arrive at the venue first. Checkmate. Both men were at the venue by 2 p.m., just under an hour behind schedule. In the past, Putin has been late for meetings with Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Francis, and, in 2014, he was hours late for meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two men were due to hold a press conference around 9:50 a.m. ET, but that schedule may be knocked back due to Putin’s tardiness.