By Trendsetter Tribune 
A photograph of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the Alaska summit has been hung in the White House, sparking backlash from U.S. and international officials.
A photograph of Donald Trump standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Alaska summit in August has been framed and put on display in the White House.
The portrait now hangs in the Palm Room, which connects the West Wing to the presidential residence. Below it, in a matching gold frame, is a photo of Trump with his six-year-old granddaughter, Carolina Dorothy Trump.
The image appears to be the same one Trump previously showed to reporters in the Oval Office, noting that Putin had sent it to him after their Anchorage meeting — the first face-to-face encounter between U.S. and Russian leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. At the time, Trump remarked that Putin looked “nice” and said he planned to autograph the photo and return it to the Russian leader.
The decision to display the image in the White House has drawn sharp criticism. Democratic Senator Mark Warner called it “almost a little too on the nose,” saying it seemed to put Putin above the American people and even Trump’s own family.
International reactions were equally pointed. Marko Mihkelson, chairman of Estonia’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, questioned whether the gesture signaled a commitment to a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine War. “If it is true that the U.S. president considers it appropriate to hang on the White House wall a photo of the greatest war criminal of the 21st century, then a just and sustainable peace will have to wait,” he said.
Russia, however, seemed pleased with the display. Kirill Dmitriev, the country’s top negotiator in the Ukraine peace process, commented: “Good. A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours at the Alaska summit but left without announcing any concrete agreements. Putin claimed they had “paved the path towards peace,” while Trump emphasized that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
