President Donald Trump on Monday declined to explicitly call Russia a security threat and said he considers "many countries" to be threats.
"Well, I consider many countries as a security threat, unfortunately, when you look at what's going on in the world today," Trump said at a joint press briefing at the White House with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.
"I would consider many countries threats, but these are all threats that we'll be able to handle if we have to. Hopefully, we won't have to handle them, but if we do, we will handle them," he later added.
Russia has been conducting military drills in the Baltic Sea over the past few months, training that has been closely watched by European states following the 2014 annexation of Crimea. A Finnish reporter asked Trump whether he considered Russia a security threat because the military was flying planes over the Baltic Sea without transponders on. She then asked what the U.S. would do if the situation in the Baltic were to escalate.
"We are very, very protective of that region," answered Trump. "We have great friends there, great relationships there. We are extremely protective."
Earlier in the press conference, Trump said he hoped U.S.-Russia relations would be in a good place in the near future.
"I hope that we do have good relations with Russia. . . . That's very important, and I believe someday that will happen. I think it's very good for world peace," he said.
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