Vladimir Putin says President Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, and just like that, their bromance is back.
“It’s not my call who gets the Nobel Prize,” Putin said in responsed to a question about Trump not winning it. “He’s working hard on long-standing crises, he’s genuine about the Ukraine situation... He’s definitely trying to resolve issues,” he added later about the president.
After Trump was not awarded the prize, despite his long campaign claiming he deserved it—which instead went to Venezuelan democracy campaigner María Corina Machado—he reposted Putin’s clip to his Truth Social account.
“Thank you to President Putin!” Trump captioned the translated clip.
Earlier this week, the American president appeared not to have called the Russian president on his 73rd birthday, despite Putin having called him on his 79th birthday in June, raising questions about their bromance.
The relationship between the two presidents has been complicated, with Trump saying in July that he was “not happy” with Putin over Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine— a surprise, given that Trump’s infatuation with Putin has been described as a “man-crush.”
Yet, the Nobel Prize is something the two presidents can agree on.
“They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” Trump said on Thursday, referring to former President Barack Obama’s 2009 Nobel Peace Prize win. Putin partly echoed his remarks, saying, “They’ve given peace prizes to undeserving folks.”
MAGA supporters on social media have also expressed dissatisfaction with President Trump’s Peace Prize snub.
“@realDonaldTrump deserved the @NobelPrize for ending 8 wars! The commission HAS lost credibility,” posted Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on X, adding a nod to Putin: “Thank you @KremlinRussia_E for backing @POTUS!”
Trump’s Friday shoutout to Putin comes at the same time his wife, first lady Melania Trump, announced that she, too, has been engaged in talks with the Russian president.
“Since President Putin received my letter last August, he responded in writing, signaling a willingness to engage with me directly, and outlining details regarding the Ukrainian children residing in Russia,” the first lady said on Friday.
“Since then, President Putin and I have had an open channel of communications regarding the welfare of these children,” she added in her speech, delivered on the same day her husband thanked the Russian president for praising him.
