Trump took another swipe at U.S. allies when he told reporters in Brussels that he thought his meeting with Putin would be "the easiest" part of his week-long European trip.
Worries over Trump's commitment to European allies and his deference to Russia loomed large at the NATO summit that wrapped up on Thursday. Trump claimed a personal victory after telling European allies to increase their defense spending or lose Washington's support. He particularly railed against Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Trump took another swipe at U.S. allies when he told reporters in Brussels that he thought his meeting with Putin would be "the easiest" part of his week-long European trip.
U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican, criticized Trump for saying that.
"The Russian president is a man schooled in treachery and espionage. He jails and murders his opponents, presides over a mafia state and he is an enemy of democracy. Why would a meeting with Putin be easier than a meeting with the allies that we rely on most to be a bulwark against him?" Flake asked in a Senate speech.
Putin won re-election for six more years in March with opposition leader Alexei Navalny barred from running on what he says was a false pretext.
Europeans and some U.S. officials are particularly concerned about whether Putin will ask Trump to suspend NATO military drills in the Baltic states on Russia's doorstep.
Another senior U.S. official said that if Putin came away from the meeting with Trump thinking he had permission to act in the Baltics, Estonia might become the epicenter of what NATO has helped to prevent.
Trump's assertion that Russia is a competitor and not an adversary is contrary to the judgments of U.S. intelligence agencies and his chief diplomat, Mike Pompeo, who at his April confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State, said the United States needs "to push back in each place we confront them," referring to the Russians.
While Trump said on Thursday that he expects the Helsinki summit to be "just a loose meeting," some at home are hoping it will be a "non-event" with nothing groundbreaking.
"Based on just the way things are shaping up, I think a non-eventful Helsinki meeting might be best for our country," Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, told Reuters.
