It comes amid heightened tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after Trump described Russia’s actions as “disgusting”. The US President had given Putin a 50-day deadline to end the war, which he then reduced to less than two weeks following an unsatisfactory response from the Russian president.

In 2017, during his first term as US president, Trump announced that he had sent two nuclear submarines to the Korean peninsula. Soon afterwards, he held a meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Whether this latest move will lead to a new meeting with Putin is yet to be seen, however.