Dog bowls and a desk set among gifts for Biden

Eclectic list of presidential gifts includes golf clubs, dog bowls and a soccer ball

In June 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with President Biden in person at an historic first summit in Geneva. Relations between the United States and Russia were considered low at the time: The two leaders had weighty issues to discuss, among them accusations of Moscow interfering with U.S. elections, alleged human rights abuses and a lengthy list of security demands from Putin.

Those tensions did not prevent Biden and Putin from following the longtime diplomatic tradition of exchanging gifts. In Geneva, Biden gifted Putin a pair of his trademark aviator sunglasses and a crystal sculpture of an American bison, national mammal of the U.S. And Putin gave Biden a miniature Kholui lacquer writing set, valued at $12,000, according to a report published Thursday by the State Department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol.

Putin’s gift was by far the most expensive Biden had received from a foreign government or head of state in 2021, according to the report. But the price in this case would have no correlation to the strength of their actual relationship. Eight months later, Russia would invade Ukraine, launching the first land war in Europe since World War II. Biden has since repeatedly cast Putin as a threat to democracy and the global order, while Putin has accused Biden of helping rally the international community against Russia.

As for the $12,000 writing set? It has been transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The State Department’s annual report provides a fascinating glimpse into the practice of gift-giving in diplomatic settings. All federal employees are required by law to report gifts from foreign government sources valued at $415 or more, though certain officials — the president, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken — were the most frequent recipients of foreign gifts, given their positions.

Gifts of state are meant to be “enduring emblems of international cooperation and friendship,” according to the National Archives, one of the federal agencies responsible for keeping presidential gifts. “All enrich relations between two countries and their leaders. And each recalls a moment in history, when two nations … briefly clasped hands.”

They also can reveal plenty about the giver. Queen Elizabeth II gave Biden a silver-framed photograph of herself (estimated value: $2,200) in June 2021. Later that same month, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave Biden a pair of dog bowls, presumably for Biden’s two dogs, along with some wool blankets, mugs and a fountain pen set.

That summer, then-Afghanistan President Mohammed Ashraf Ghani gave Biden a silk carpet worth $9,600, and his wife gave Jill Biden another silk carpet worth $19,200. Within weeks, Ghani would flee the country after the Taliban overtook Kabul following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

In September 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave Biden a U.S. flag, the $700 value of which paled in comparison to that of the writing set Putin had gifted Biden a few months before. One year later, Zelensky would return to Washington, presenting Biden with a medal on behalf of a Ukrainian military commander who had asked him to give it to “a very brave president.” A visibly moved Biden said it was “undeserved, but much appreciated.”

In modern times, a president might receive 15,000 gifts a year, according to the National Archives. The gifts are almost always accepted because, in the words of the State Department report, “Non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. Government.”

Most gifts are transferred to the National Archives or to the General Services Administration, unless the recipient pays fair market value to keep it. Some are displayed officially. A few of the gifts listed in the 2021 report were “destroyed.”

However, some remain unaccounted for. The State Department’s records for state gifts in 2020 show nothing listed for former president Donald Trump, who was still in office that year, because his administration did not submit proper reporting of any gifts he received. Last year, congressional investigators said they were searching for dozens of pricey mementos gifted to Trump and his family members by foreign governments, as The Washington Post’s Jacqueline Alemany and Josh Dawsey reported then:

The eclectic list ranges from golf clubs from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a 2018 World Cup soccer ball from Putin, a gold-plated collar of the Egyptian god Horus from Egypt’s president, a large painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador, and a $6,400 collar of King Abdulaziz al Saud from Saudi Arabia.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell once told The Post it was important to “never show any … disfavor” when receiving a gift. “Thank you, my dear friend,” he suggested as a universally acceptable response. “This will bind us and our two countries even more closely.”