First ladies are leading the way in writing wrongs

Michael Day, The Independent

Donald Trump will have the world's most powerful military at his disposal when he finally squares up to (or, more likely, vacillates in front of) Vladimir Putin. And yet when it comes to paving the way to possible peace talks, his wife Melania seems to be doing a fine diplomatic job — armed only with her Montblanc. At the Alaska summit on Friday, Putin walked all over the supine US president. He did receive, however, a letter from the Slovenian-born first lady, which addressed Russia's malevolent treatment of Ukrainian children and implored Putin to do his best to protect them. Melania is not the only president's wife to have taken to her writing desk in an effort to end the Ukraine war.

President Zelensky avoided a repeat of his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump, and he softened his landing by handing over a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, thanking her opposite number for her efforts in sparing the lives of Ukrainian children. "It's not to you, it's to your wife," a smiling Zelensky told Trump, in a considerably more convivial atmosphere than the one in February that saw him mugged in front of the world's cameras.

In bygone centuries, when foreign relations depended on the back and forth of handwritten entreaties, often in legal French, it was known as "letter diplomacy". Today, it could be termed "Smythson diplomacy" — and decent stationery is all the more commanding in an era of the dashed-off WhatsApp. If it helps stop the carnage in conflict zones, all power to the first ladies' elbows.

It is very easy to mock Melania's missive to Putin: its glutinous semi-literacy, its use of vague euphemisms and its refusal to call a spade a spade. Take this for example this sentence, alluding to Putin's abduction of 20,000 Ukrainian children — for which he has been indicted as a war criminal: "A simple yet profound concept, Mr Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation's descendants begin their lives with a purity — an innocence which stands above geography, government and ideology."

Never mind that Putin, white nationalist, imperialist and would-be heir to Peter the Great, doesn't share these sentiments. Melania knows there was no point in further riling the Russian leader — not that he was the intended audience. The letter was meant for her husband, and those Republicans with a conscience. Polls show that GOP supporters' attitudes to Russia and its brutalisation of Ukraine are hardening.

Trump has said his wife is "very neutral" on Ukraine. No one believes that. Melania, 55, who grew up in Slovenia, the most western-leaning part of what was communist Yugoslavia, made a point of posting her thoughts and prayers for the people of Ukraine on X immediately after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general, has shared Trump's own reports of how the first Lady has tried to remind her husband what he's up against in the Kremlin. Rutte recalls the US leader telling how "I'd get home, I'd say: 'First lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we're finished.' And then I'll turn on the television, or she'll say to me one time: 'Wow, that's strange because they just bombed a nursing home...'"

The ease with which Putin can sway Trump with a handshake, an impish grin and a private, five-minute chat is terrifying. This means that it's vital that as many voices as possible, from European leaders to his wife, remind the US president that Putin is an evil, lying megalomaniac - and that you won't get a Nobel Prize by sucking up to him.

Olena Zelenska also has form when it comes to exercising soft-power diplomacy. In April 2022, Ukraine's first lady posed serenely for Vogue magazine. She certainly looked like glossy mag material in un smoking in white silk, but spoke about the grim reality of the Russian invasion for Ukraine's women and children.

First lady diplomacy is not new: JFK employed Jackie Kennedy as a potent tool of soft-power. Nancy Reagan sought to speed the end of the Cold War, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush and championed women's rights. But none of them was in the pivotal position that Melania now finds herself. This is for the simple reason, that none of them was married to a US commander in chief so in thrall to dictators. May your inkwell never run dry, Melania.