Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Donald Trump tells reporters Finland rakes its forests 
 
 Finns have been baffled by US President Donald Trump's comments praising the country for managing its vast forests by raking. 
 
 Citing a conversation with his Finnish counterpart, Mr Trump said they spend "a lot of time on raking and cleaning". 
 
 But President Sauli Niinisto told a Finnish daily he could not remember talking about raking when the two met. 
 
 Firefighters in California are currently battling the deadliest blaze in the state's history. 
 
 Nearly 1,000 people remain on a list of people reported as missing, authorities say. 
 
 The number of believed missing fell 283 late on Sunday, down from 1,276 people, they say, but gave no other details. 
 
 Heavy rain is forecast in the coming days and could complicate efforts to find victims' remains, but will bring relief to firefighters on the front lines. 
 
 Forest nation 
 
 Surveying the damage on Saturday, Mr Trump revisited his claim that poor forest management was to blame. 
 
 "You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it's a whole different story," he said. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Drone footage shows complete devastation in the Californian town of Paradise 
 
 "I was with the president of Finland, and he said: 'We have a much different [sic]..., we're a forest nation.' And they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problem," he added. 
 
 But Sauli Niinisto told the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper raking had not come up when they talked. 
 
 "I mentioned [to] him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network," he said. 
 
 The forestry director of the Finnish Forest Association, Heikki Savolainen, told the newspaper that raking was not usually a forest-management measure. 
 
 "Those statements were very interesting. I see raking only in my own yard. It belongs to yards and parks," he said. 
 
 Finns have been posting pictures of themselves online raking local forests, joking about "raking America great again". ||||| FILE - In this July 16, 2018 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto as they pose for a photo in Helsinki, Finland. Niinisto said in an interview published... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 16, 2018 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto as they pose for a photo in Helsinki, Finland. Niinisto said in an interview published on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018 that he briefed Trump in the wake of the California wildfires on how... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this July 16, 2018 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto as they pose for a photo in Helsinki, Finland. Niinisto said in an interview published on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018 that he briefed Trump in the wake of the California wildfires on how... (Associated Press) FILE - In this July 16, 2018 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto as they pose for a photo in Helsinki, Finland. Niinisto said in an interview published... (Associated Press) 
 
 HELSINKI (AP) — Finland's president isn't sure where U.S. President Donald Trump got the idea that raking is part of his country's routine for managing its substantial forests. 
 
 Trump told reporters Saturday while visiting the ruins of the Northern California town where a fire killed at least 76 people that wildfires weren't a problem in Finland because crews "spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things" to clear forest floors. 
 
 Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview published Sunday in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that he spoke briefly with Trump about forest management on Nov. 11, when they both were in Paris for Armistice Day events. 
 
 Niinisto said their conversation focused on the California wildfires and the surveillance system Finland uses to monitor forests for fires. He remembered telling Trump "We take care of our forests," but couldn't recall raking coming up. 
 
 The U.S. leader's comment generated amusement on social media in Finland, which manages its vast forests with scientific seriousness. 
 
 Forests cover over 70 percent of Finland's 338,000 square kilometers. The Nordic country with a population of 5.5 million is home to some of the world's biggest paper and pulp companies. ||||| President Donald Trump and Finland President Sauli Niinisto smile in a joint news conference Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declined Monday to tag Russia as a security threat, saying he would put "many countries" in that category instead. 
 
 "I consider many countries as a security threat, unfortunately, when you look at what's going on in the world today," Trump said after a Finnish broadcaster asked specifically about Russia and whether the president would consider it a threat to security. 
 
 Trump's response was in keeping with a general reluctance to take a tough line against Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies say interfered in last year's presidential election to try to benefit Trump. The Justice Department and congressional committees are investigating possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russian government officials. 
 
 The president commented during a White House news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto after they met in the Oval Office. 
 
 The Finnish broadcaster referenced Niinisto's concern about the security in the Baltic region and Russian planes flying there without transponders, which transmit information about their locations. The reporter asked Trump, "Would you consider Russia as a security threat?" 
 
 "We consider that a very, very important part of the world," Trump said, noting U.S. relationships with countries in the region. "And so I would consider many countries threats, but these are all threats that we'd be able to handle if we have to. Hopefully we won't have to handle them, but if we do we will handle them." 
 
 Trump declined the reporter's invitation to say how far the U.S. would go if the situation in Baltics escalated. "We are very protective of that region. That's all I can say," Trump said. 
 
 Trump also said he and Niinisto had a "very good discussion" about the Arctic and black carbon, a major component of soot that's damaging the Arctic ice. 
 
 Finland opposed Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of an international climate change agreement. Finland recently inherited chairmanship of the advisory Arctic Council from the United States. 
 
 "I think we have much in agreement," Trump said. "We want crystal clean water and we want clean air, the cleanest ever." 
 
 Trump also said the U.S. stands in solidarity with Finland after a man stabbed eight people in the city of Turku earlier this month, killing two, before police shot and detained him. 
 
 Trump noted that Finland is respected by Russia and said he hoped the United States someday would have good relations with Russia, too. 
 
 "Finland is respected by Russia. Finland has been free of Russia, really — just about one of the few countries in the region that has been — for 100 years," Trump said. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939. 
 
 "And Russia has a lot of respect for Finland, so that's always good," Trump continued. "But I think Finland is doing fine with Russia, and I hope that the United States will someday be able to have a very good relationship with Russia also." 
 
 "I think that's very good for world peace and for other things," Trump added.
– Finland's president isn't sure where President Trump got the idea that raking is part of his country's routine for managing its substantial forests. Trump told reporters Saturday while visiting the ruins of the northern California town where a fire killed at least 76 people that wildfires weren't a problem in Finland because crews "spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things" to clear forest floors. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview published Sunday in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that he spoke briefly with Trump about forest management on Nov. 11, when they both were in Paris for Armistice Day events. Niinisto said their conversation focused on the California wildfires and the surveillance system Finland uses to monitor forests for fires, the AP reports. He remembered telling Trump that "we take care of our forests," but couldn't recall raking coming up. Trump's comment generated amusement on social media in Finland, which manages its vast forests with scientific seriousness. Some posted pictures of themselves raking the forests and joked about "raking America great again," while others pointed out that they "don't exactly manicure" the forests that cover more than 70% of the country, the BBC reports. (Trump said seeing the devastation Saturday didn't change his mind about climate change.)