Vladimir Putin could travel to the US for the 2026 World Cup, Donald Trump has said. The US president dangled the prospect of an invitation for the Russian leader, who has largely been treated as an international pariah since he invaded Ukraine more than three years ago. Speaking alongside Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, in the Oval Office on Friday, Mr Trump said: “There’s a man named Vladimir Putin, who I believe will be coming, depending on what happens, he may be coming and he may not, depending on what happens.” The Russian president “wants to be there very badly”, Mr Trump said. Credit: Reuters The president said Putin had sent him a photograph of them standing together in Alaska, and announced he would sign it and send it back. “He’s been very respectful of me and of our country, but not so respectful of others, but... I’m going to sign this for him, but I was sent one, and I thought you’d all like to see it,” he continued. An invitation to the World Cup further remove Moscow from its political and cultural isolation following its invasion in February 2022. Russia was banned from the 2022 and 2024 football World Cups, as well as the Paris 2024 Olympics. Putin previously attended the 2018 World Cup. Mr Trump has faced criticism for his red-carpet welcome for Putin when they met at a US military base in Anchorage. Mr Trump greeted the Russian leader with applause and a handshake. Putin has previously used sporting events to score propaganda victories for his regime. When Russia hosted the World Cup in 2018, he declared that he was welcoming football fans to an “open, hospitable and friendly” country, countering perceptions of isolation on the world stage following the annexation of Crimea. The West imposed sanctions on Russia following the invasion in 2014, which proved the first step in Putin’s move to take the rest of Ukraine eight years later. Questioned by a reporter on a Russian airstrike that hit an American electronics factory in Ukraine on Thursday, Mr Trump answered: “I’m not happy about it, and I’m not happy about anything having to do with that war.” After his meeting with Mr Trump in Alaska, the US president announced he was working to organise a sit-down between Putin and Mr Zelensky, but the Kremlin has so far refused to confirm the invitation. Commentators have noted that Mr Trump often imposes “two-week” deadlines for himself on a range of issues, including dealing with Russia, which rarely end up materialising. In May, he announced he would know if Putin was serious about ending the war in Ukraine “within two weeks”.