During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Alaska for his historic summit with US President Donald Trump in August, First Lady Melania Trump had handed over to Putin a “peace letter” expressing concern about the kidnapped child victims of the Russia-Ukraine war. The much-appreciated gesture is now being used by Putin to manipulate Trump, according to an analyst.
According to Uriel Epstein, executive director of the Renew Democracy Initiative, Putin responded to Melania’s letter by returning several children to Ukraine, which pleased the First Lady, as evident from Melania’s statement that came on October 11. She announced earlier this month that after an “open channel of communication” with Putin, Ukranian children displaced in the war had been reunited with families.
Epstein says Melania is now completely satisified with Putin’s gesture, which is “very bad since the President listens to her.” The analyst says that Putin’s gesture has managed to persuaded Melania to tone down her aggressive stance towards Kremlin.
He added that Melania has been communicating with Putin for over two months, which means that the Russian leader has effectively reached Donald Trump. “Putin returned eight children and that’s it. Melania can say she helped return the children. Suddenly it is Putin ‘isn’t such a devil, you can talk to him’. Before she used to say Russia kidnapped the children, now she’s talking about children who ‘disappeared.’ She’s changed her rhetoric,” Epstein added.
Epstein believes that Melania once exerted strong influence over her husband and was aggressively opposed to Russia. “That’s no longer the case now and the Russian leader has won here,” Epstein said.
“Putin is a traditional KGB man. He knows how to influence people. He realised Melania was a key vote for Trump. He offered a small win—a few children—and then Melania calmed down. Meanwhile, thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children still remain in Russia, ” he added.
Epstein said that Trump was refusing to support sanctions against Russia, despite 80 out of 100 senators supporting them. The US president is likely taking note of his wife’s weakening position, he opined.
‘KGB games’: Vladimir Putin is using Melania Trump to influence Trump, claim analyst
