While walking between the famous West Wing into the White House, one of the last things you’d expect to see is a framed photo of the President beside a man who’s waged a bloody, almost four-year-long war.
That’s now a reality. A journalist working in the White House noticed a framed photograph of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, hung right above a photo of the President with his granddaughter.
The picture, hung in the White House Palm Room, shows the two world leaders meeting in Alaska last year in a bid to reach a peace deal in Ukraine, and has been praised by Russia.
Kirill Dmitriev, a key Russian negotiator, wrote: ‘Good. A picture is worth a thousand words.’
Others weren’t so impressed.
‘Putting Putin above the American people and his own family. Almost a little too on the nose,’ Democrat Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote.
Last week, Trump invited Putin to join his ‘Board of Peace’, which will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza.
Russian state media first reported Putin’s invitation to join the board, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirming it.
‘Indeed, President Putin also received an offer through diplomatic channels to join this Peace Council. At the moment, we are studying all the details of this proposal,’ he said.
The appointment of Putin is bound to raise some eyebrows, given he’s waged a years-long war which has decimated a large part of Ukraine, with peace talks still stalling.
Despite the apparent desire to mend bridges with Russia, recent peace talks with Putin soured.
Last week, violence interrupted the trilateral peace talks between US, Russia and Ukraine after fresh drone strikes in Kyiv.
Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US were meeting in Abu Dhabi to continue the thorny talks to try find an end to the four-year invasion of Ukraine.
However, Russia cast a shadow over the much-awaited negotiations after the deadly bombardment in Kyiv.
At least one person was killed in Kyiv, while 19 people were wounded in attacks in the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, where a maternity hospital was damaged.
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