During an event at the White House on 22/8, former US President Donald Trump showed the press a photo of himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin standing on a platform at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, before the two leaders attended the summit on 15/8.

"I just received this photo from someone who also really wanted to be there. He has great respect for me and our country, just not for others", Trump said as he held up the photo and declared he would sign it.

The former US president described it as a "nice photo" from his Russian counterpart. "I look okay in the photo, but he looks good. It's great that the photo was sent to me", he added.

Former President Trump holds up a photo of himself with Russian President Putin. Photo: AP

Trump was promoting peace efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine. After meeting Putin in Alaska, he also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders at the White House.

Following these discussions, Trump announced he was arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Putin had promised to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in the coming weeks. However, on 22/8, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated there were no such plans.

Ngoc Anh (Theo ABC, Fox News, AP)