is loose. You have to be very, very, clear, where the fixed line is." When he was asked to shed light on his thoughts about Putin after the Russian attack to Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Niinistö replied: "The masks have now been taken off, showing only the face of war." The Foreign minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov used a statement of Niinistö in his arguments about future choices for the next Prime Minister of Finland, saying, "'Does Northern Europe need this? How Russia will react?' President Niinistö asked these questions with the subtext. He knows that the answer is negative: nobody needs this"; Lavrov added "President Niinistö realizes that what happened in Ukraine is impossible in Finland." In his New Years Speech 2015 Niinistö stated: "We condemned Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea as soon as it happened and then condemned Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine. We have done this in the EU context but have also made this clear in our direct contacts with Russia. We condemn any illegal occupations, illegal use of force or attempts to limit the sovereignty of independent nations. Such actions never achieve anything but danger and increased tension. While power may have once grown out of the barrel of a gun, these days it leads to nothing but chaos." On 16 July 2018, Niinistö officially hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Putin for the US-Russia Summit in Helsinki. Niinistö was involved 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York on 25 September 2018. President Niinistö spoke about Russia and Baltic nations affairs at the UNGA 2018. Niinistö met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 26 October 2016 in Tehran, Iran. He also met Iranan President Hassan Rouhani. They discussed closer economic cooperation, human rights in Iran, the situation in the Middle East and the threat of terrorism. Niinistö said: "Iran was one of the first countries to recognise Finland’s independence, and now our countries will further deepen their cooperation." In April 2017, Niinistö supported One-China policy. Niinistö visited China on 13–14 January 2019 and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, they went through common issues between Finland-China to raise friendship and partnership. Xi Jinping and Niinistö jointly launched the 2019 China-Finland Year of Winter Sports. In 2018, Niinistö said during the election campaign that he would block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, due to their involvement