During the third hour of his speech at Valdai, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his election as the 47th president of the United States.
Putin noted that he “doesn’t know what will happen when Trump returns to the White House”.
“But what has been said publicly so far (…), what has been said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to contribute to the end of the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, it deserves attention, at the very least,” he added.
Putin then congratulated Trump on his victory and said he “has nothing against” resuming contacts with the United States, should Trump initiate such contact.
“I don’t consider it shameful on my part to call him either. I just don’t do it, because the leaders of Western countries have been calling me since some stage, almost every week, and then suddenly stopped,” Putin said in response to a question about how he would react if, even before the inauguration, Trump called him and offered to meet.