Putin and Trump ‘could meet in Melania’s home town’ as leaders eye up Slovenia summit
VLADIMIR Putin has said Melania Trump’s Slovenian home town could be a good place to meet President Trump in the first talks between the two leaders.
First Lady Melania Trump's early modelling career
Putin and Trump have been keen to set up a summit and strengthen ties between the two former Cold War rival nations after both spoke warmly of each others leadership.
And the Slovenian capital, where Melania once lived in a high rise flat during her school days, would be a good place for the two political firebrands to meet.
Putin made the comments after Slovenian President Borut Pahor offered Ljubljana as a venue for the pair.
Slovenia was the venue for the first meeting between George W. Bush and Putin
He said: "As regards Ljubljana, Slovenia in general, it is of course a brilliant place to have a dialogue of such a sort.
“But it doesn't depend only on us, it depends on a whole series of circumstances.”
European Union member state Slovenia was the venue for the first meeting between George W. Bush and Putin in 2001 where the then American leader made what became a famous comment about looking Putin in the eye and getting "a sense of his soul."
Melania once lived in a high rise flat in Ljubljana during her school days
It comes after security officials claimed Putin could hand NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to the US as a “gift” to President Trump.
US intelligence is believed to have uncovered Russian deliberations over the fugitive American, and claim handing over Snowden is one of a string of initiative to “curry favour” with the newly sworn in President.
Snowden, who will face felony charges if he returns to the US, has been described by Trump as “a traitor”.
The Russian leader has claimed the Slovenian capital would be a good place to meet
Security officials claimed Putin could hand NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to the US as a 'gift'
While Snowden’s lawyer has claimed he has received “no such signals” of a deal, the whistleblower has said he is “encouraged” by the news.
He said: “It wasn’t that many years ago that people were saying ‘this guy is a Russian spy’ –but countries don’t give up their spies.
A US State Department official told Express.co.uk: “Mr. Snowden is accused of leaking classified information and faces felony charges here in the United States.”