Putin prayed for Trump after assassination attempt

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said he likes Russian President Vladimir Putin, while sending a message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Last week, US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff met with President Putin for several hours in Moscow, and told US media that the talks, which included discussions on paving the way toward ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, were constructive and “solutions-based.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting in Russia on March 21.

Later, in an interview with right-wing podcast host Tucker Carlson, Mr. Witkoff said he saw President Putin as not a "bad guy" and that Mr. Putin was a "great" leader who was seeking to end the more than 3-year bloody conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, according to AFP today, March 23.

"I like him. I think he's been straightforward with me. I don't consider Putin a bad guy. It's a complicated situation, that war and all the factors that led to that war," Witkoff said in an interview broadcast on March 21.

Mr Witkoff also described a "personal" element to the discussion in which President Putin recalled his reaction to the assassination attempt on Mr Trump in July 2024 when Mr Trump held a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (USA).

Special envoy Witkoff said that during the meeting, President Putin told him that when he learned that Mr. Trump had been shot, the Russian leader went to the church to see the priest and pray for Mr. Trump. "Not because... he (Mr. Trump) could become the president of the United States, but because he (Mr. Putin) had a friendship with the priest and he was praying for his friend," Mr. Witkoff said.

Mr Witkoff added that President Putin had commissioned "a beautiful portrait of President Trump from a leading Russian artist" and asked him to bring it back as a gift to President Trump.

Mr. Witkoff's praise for President Putin shows a significant change in Washington's approach to the Kremlin since Mr. Trump took office for a second presidential term on January 20, according to AFP.

In the same interview, Mr. Witkoff said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing difficult choices ahead and needs to realize that it is time for him to "complete a deal" with Moscow.

There is currently no information about the reaction of Russia or Ukraine to Mr. Witkoff's statement.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dac-phai-vien-my-ong-putin-da-cau-nguyen-cho-ong-trump-sau-vu-am-sat-hut-185250323093911045.htm