MOSCOW: A Russian artist who painted a portrait of Donald Trump that was given to the US president by Vladimir Putin says he never suspected his work would become an instrument of Russia-US diplomacy.

The painting by Nikas Safronov depicts Trump clenching his fist in a gesture of defiance in the moments after a gunman tried to assassinate him at a rally in Pennsylvania last July.

Safronov said he was impressed by Trump`s courage. `I went to a nearby church and prayed for him. And then I started to make sketches,` he said. But the portrait`s unlikely journey to the White House via the Kremlin came as a surprise, Safronov added. He said he was approached by former clients, whom he did not name, who requested that he give them the painting for a period of time.Safronov said he agreed and gave it away for free. Later, he said, he heard media reports that Trump`s special envoy Steve Witkoff had said that Putin had gifted Trump a painting by a famous Russian artist.

`Somehow I couldn`t piece together that those people (who took away the portrait) work for the president of Russia,` he said. Witkoff, who has met Putin four times, said in March that he had brought back the painting, which he said Putin had commissioned from a leading Russian artist, and Trump had been `clearly touched` by it.

But Safronov said he only realised that the portrait given to Trump was his when he received a call from Putin.

`The president called me. He thanked me and said he liked the work. It was a short conversation,` he said.-Reuters