After months of tension the Russian leader has taken pride of place above a photo of the US president and his granddaughter
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Wednesday January 28 2026, 10.35am GMT, The Times
The photograph of Putin and Trump meeting in Alaska last year
KENT NISHIMURA/CNP/ALAMY
President Trump’s on-off relationship with President Putin is so volatile that he has veered from describing the Russian leader as “a nice gentleman” to saying he was “pissed off” with him.
Now there is a sign that the “bromance” is on again, as Trump hung a picture of himself and Putin in the White House.
The photograph of the two meeting at their summit in Alaska last August is above a picture of Trump and his granddaughter, Carolina Trump, at the Daytona International Speedway racetrack in Florida:
KENT NISHIMURA/CNP/ALAMY
Elizabeth Landers, the White House correspondent for PBS News Hour, who shared an image of the photograph on X, said it was hung in a vestibule area connecting the West Wing to the residence.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s key negotiator, welcomed the news, saying: “Good. A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Russia views the meeting between Putin and Trump in Anchorage, the first time the Russian leader had visited a western nation since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as an important moment in their modern history.
The Kremlin announced this week that the summit would appear in an updated version of school history textbooks from the beginning of the next academic year.
According to reports, the White House has told Ukraine it must cede the Donbas, the two coal-rich eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, before the US will provide security guarantees.
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Updated Jan 27
Map: The Times and The Sunday Times•Source: Institute for the Study of War and AEI’s Critical Threats Project
Kyiv had been concerned that Trump could have promised Donbas to Putin during their meeting in Anchorage, a European government adviser told The Times.
Mark Warner, a Democratic senator from Virginia and the highest-ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee, said: “Putting Putin above the American people and his own family. Almost a little too on the nose.”
Overnight, Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and a missile, killing two people in the Kyiv region. Ukraine’s air force said Russia that had launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 146 drones, with 103 neutralised by air defences.