SOCHI, RUSSIA - MARCH 16: Russia President Vladimir Putin waves during the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on March 16, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)
The Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted Donald Trump a portrait of himself, which Putin commissioned.
Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian president gave the painting to Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow earlier this month. Peskov shared this news in response to a journalist’s question about reports regarding the painting before he declined further comment.
Last week, Witkoff mentioned the portrait during a podcast interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
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“The president, President Putin, had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump from the leading Russian artist and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump, which I brought home and delivered to him,” the U.S. president’s special envoy confirmed to Carlson.
“It’s been reported in the paper, but it was such a gracious moment,” Witkoff said.
He also mentioned that Putin told him a story about how when Trump had been shot in the ear during a rally in western Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
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Witkoff said the Russian president “went to his local church, met with his priest, and prayed for the president.”
Witkoff then explained that Putin did this for Trump “not because he was the president of the United [States] – he could become the president of the United States – but because he had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend.”
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