President Donald Trump greets Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, Alaska.

Donald Trump just can’t seem to stop siding with Vladimir Putin.

Despite supposedly being the leader of the free world, the US president appears to have a surprisingly warm relationship with the Russian authoritarian, and has repeatedly forgiven Putin for going back on his word.

While his predecessors in the White House and his European allies have shunned Putin for his aggression towards Ukraine, Trump quite literally rolled out the red carpet for the autocrat last week in Alaska.

Although he previously warned there would be “severe consequences” for Russia unless Putin agreed to end his invasion of Ukraine, Trump immediately dropped his demand for a ceasefire and walked away from the summit empty-handed – aside from a few photos.

For Putin, the summit was a triumph, as it ended the Russian leader’s isolation on the world stage.

The impact of their meeting clearly stayed with Trump, too. Day later, after meeting European leaders with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president was back to repeating Kremlin propaganda and blaming Ukraine for the war.

The real question is: why?

According to the director of international security at the RUSI think tank, Dr Neil Melvin, Trump simply does not see Putin as an enemy, as much of the West does, but as someone to negotiate with.

The expert told HuffPost UK: “What he sees in that is a person with whom he needs to do what needs to be done.”

The US president’s desire for a Nobel Peace Prize is well-known, and he has often

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