The wink, the slouch — the non-verbal cues at the summit
HELSINKI — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his trademark macho posture converged with President Donald Trump and his classic power stance as the leaders met on the world stage in Finland.
Seated in Helsinki’s ornate Gothic Hall, Putin appeared to slouch in his chair and looked off to the side at times on Monday, avoiding eye contact with Trump at the start of their high-profile talks. The taller Trump leaned forward in his chair, his forearms resting on his thighs and his hands connected by his fingertips as he appeared alongside with Russia’s leader. Hours later, the two leaders stood a few feet apart at lecterns as Trump declined to condemn Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, which U.S. intelligence agencies have said occurred.
Trump and Putin had met twice previously but the Helsinki summit represented their most significant convocation to date, an encounter replete with non-verbal cues as two leaders known for their tough personas sized each other up once again.
For Trump, the meeting was the capstone to a weeklong European trip that has rattled NATO allies and came only hours after a series of tweets bemoaning the “rigged witch hunt” involving the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia. For Putin, it came only three days after the Justice Department announced the indictment of a dozen Russian military intelligence officers on charges related to the hacking of Democratic targets in the 2016 U.S. election.