Tarja Halonen
Finland’s president has said she has “profound confidence” in the former speaker of parliament and her advisor, after a Wikileaks cable suggested the pair had disclosed details of a private meeting between her and former Russian president Vladimir Putin.
According to the cable, Tarja Halonen’s advisor, Jarmo Viinanen, and Paavo Lipponen, the former speaker of parliament, gave the US ambassador information about a 2004 meeting between the two presidents. Halonen claims to have found nothing reproachable in the pair’s actions, however, after having spoken with both about the revelations.
“Not everything Wikileaks publishes is true,” Halonen told the press at a conference in Helsinki. According to YLE, Lipponen has also found no record of the meeting in his 2004 diary and does not recall the incident taking place.
The disclosure was discussed in parliament this week, with MPs on the committee claiming they knew less about the president’s meetings that the US ambassador. Halonen, however, said nothing emerged from her meeting with Putin that Parliament needed to be made aware of.
“Not everything Wikileaks publishes is true.” I really gotta agree with Halonen here.
So many of the documents from Wikileks has turned out to be nothing more but slander and insults. I would like to see Wikileaks being more critical in their selection of documents, they find fit for publishing.
As for this particular case it’s hard to judge. But even if the allegations are true, it’s hard to see, that it serious sanctions should be be necessary.