ABC News reported that on March 24, the Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent a portrait painted by him to US President Donald Trump.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the gift was given to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff by President Putin earlier this month, when Witkoff was in Moscow.
Information about the gift was first revealed when Mr. Witkoff participated in an interview with a former Fox News host last week. Mr. Witkoff said that President Trump could not help but be moved and used the word "beautiful beauty" to describe the portrait.
Speaking in the interview, Special Envoy Witkoff expressed his appreciation for the portrait and recounted that Mr. Putin said he had prayed for Mr. Trump last year, when he heard that the US presidential candidate had been assassinated at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
In 2018, President Putin gave Mr. Trump a football ball, but the ball then had to go through a listening device check by the US Secret Service before Mr. Trump gave it back to his son.
President Putin's gift at that time increased the vigilance of the Washington government, because before that, during the Soviet era, an American diplomat had received a gift containing reconnaissance equipment.
In 1945, a carving of the Great American scale was sent by Soviet children to US Ambassador Averell Harriman. Mr. Harriman then hung a carving in his room for 6 years before the US State Department discovered a secret theft device inside.
According to ABC News, it is not yet clear whether the portrait that Mr. Putin gave Mr. Trump will be subject to security checks. The White House has not commented on this gift.
Mr Trump is not the first US President to receive gifts from Mr Putin.
In 2021, Mr. Putin presented then- Presidium President Joe Biden with a lacquer and pen worth $12,000 when the two leaders met at a summit in Geneva (Switzerland).
In 2013, President Putin reportedly presented former President Barack Obama with an express plate and expressedzo.
The gift that Mr. Trump has just received is not the first portrait that Mr. Putin has sent. In 2014, former President George H.W. Bush also received a portrait from President Putin on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
