Heidi M Przybyla

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – President Trump declined to call Russia a security threat despite escalating tensions in the Baltic region, saying he considers “many countries threats.”

In a news conference following his meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, a Finnish reporter asked the president if Russia poses a threat and what the U.S. is willing to do about it.

Trump avoided the question. “I would consider many countries threats but these are all threats that we’ll be able to handle if we have to,” Trump said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to handle them, but if we do, we will handle them.” He also said the U.S. is “very protective of that region.”

Speaking in Estonia last month, Vice President Mike Pence called Russia its biggest security threat, telling the NATO allies: "An attack on one of us is an attack on us all."

Trump has generally declined to criticize Russia’s actions, including its invasion and occupation of Crimea, in the Eastern portion of Ukraine. Special prosecutor Robert Mueller is continuing his probe into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia.

In his remarks, Trump also claimed that Russia and Finland have gotten along for “a hundred years.” In 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, the former Soviet Union invaded Finland.

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