Graffiti in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius
Photo: APDonald Trump expressed his admiration for the Russian President in a personal letter to Vladimir Putin in 2007. "As you have probably heard, I am a big fan of yours," the future US president wrote to the Kremlin chief.
The reason for the congratulations was Putin's election as "Person of the Year" 2007 by "Time" magazine. "You definitely deserve it," wrote Trump - and at the end of the short letter admonished Putin to take good care of himself.
The letter can be found in a report published on Tuesday by the US Senate Intelligence Committee on Russian interference in the US presidential election in 2016. It also states that it was not possible to find out why this letter was sent - and whether there was an answer thereupon gave. Before Trump was elected president in 2016, he was a real estate entrepreneur in talks for years about building a Trump hotel in Moscow.
Putin was Trump's guest of honor at the beauty pageant
Also, in 2013 Trump brought the Miss Universe beauty pageant to Moscow. To this end, he personally invited Putin "as a guest of honor", as a further letter on stationery from his company Trump Organization shows. Trump was convinced that it would be the "biggest and best" edition of "Miss Universe". "I know you will have a great time." Below the printed text is written with a felt pen: "The most beautiful women in the world!" In a tweet published eight days earlier, Trump asked if Putin would come to the event - "and if so, will he be my new best friend?
Icon: The mirrorbah / dpa