Putin gifted portrait of Trump to US President as Ukraine relations disintegrate | World | News
The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted a “beautiful” portrait of Donald Trump to the Russian President. Putin gave the painting to Mr Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow earlier this month, the Russian president’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in a response to a journalist’s question, declining further comment.
The gift was first mentioned last week by Mr Witkoff in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Mr Witkoff told Mr Carlson that President Trump “was clearly touched” by the portrait, which he described as “beautiful.” Mr Witkoff met Putin after talks with Russian officials about trying to end the war in Ukraine. Ceasefire talks continued on Monday in Saudi Arabia, where US officials met their Russian counterparts, a day after meeting with Ukrainian negotiators.
During his interview with controversial journalist Mr Carlson, Mr Witkoff described Putin’s gift as “gracious” and recalled how Putin told him he had prayed for President Trump last year when he heard the then-candidate for the US presidency had been shot at a rally in Pennsylvania. “He was praying for his friend,” he said, recounting Putin’s comments.
Recalling his meeting with the Russian political strongman, Mr Witkoff gushed how he didn’t “regard Putin as a bad guy” and that “he’s super smart”.
In 2018, Putin gave then-President Trump a football that the Secret Service had checked for listening devices before Trump gave it to his son, a precaution that hearkened back to a Soviet-era gift to a US diplomat that turned out to be bugged.
In 1945, a carving of the Great Seal of the United States was given as a gift from Soviet school children to then-US ambassador Averell Harriman.
It hung in his office for six years allowing the Soviet Union to eavesdrop on his conversations until the State Department discovered that it contained a covert listening device.
It was not immediately known if the portrait Putin gave to Mr Trump had been examined for bugs. The White House hasn’t commented on the portrait.
Donald Trump isn’t the first sitting president to receive a gift from Putin. In 2021, Putin gave then-President Joe Biden a $12,000 lacquer writing box and pen when they met at a summit in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2013, he reportedly sent then-President Barack Obama porcelain plates and espresso cups.
This apparently isn’t the first portrait of a US leader Putin has sent, either. In 2014, the Russia president reportedly sent to George H.W. Bush a portrait of the former president on his 90th birthday.
