The camera focuses on the face of Yevgeny Popov, a well-known figure in Russian television and Kremlin propagandist. Beside him, his colleague Olga Skabeeva struggles to suppress a nervous laugh. Behind them, on the screen, the images flash: Melania Trump, young and alluring, captured in provocative poses. It’s the year 2000. The photos, taken for GQ magazine, show her in lingerie, lying on a carpet with the United States seal prominently displayed. A bold image, almost prophetic of what she would become.
“This is how Melania looked in 2000. The GQ cover,” Popov says, a smug smile on his face. The program is 60 Minutes, one of the flagship shows on Russia’s first channel. In a country where press freedom is almost entirely under the control of the Kremlin, every image, every word carries weight. It’s no coincidence that the photos are aired during prime time, right after Trump’s electoral victory. Russia is speaking, and it does so plainly.
But why Melania? The First Lady, originally from Slovenia, who began her modeling career in Europe before marrying Trump in 2005, has unwittingly become the protagonist of a new chapter in the geopolitical saga between Moscow and Washington.
For years, there has been talk of a possible compromising dossier in Putin’s possession regarding Trump, dating back to his business trips to Russia. The fact that Russia chose to air these images during a prime-time show, immediately following Trump’s MAGA election win—and shortly after Trump, reportedly, warned Putin not to escalate the conflict in Ukraine while reminding him of the large presence of U.S. troops in Europe—seems to signal that Moscow has control over the narratives concerning the United States.
The question is: what is Putin truly trying to say by approving this? Perhaps it’s a lesson to Trump. A way of telling him that in this geopolitical game, Russia is never on the losing side.
