Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images(MOSCOW) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on winning the U.S. presidential election in a telegram Wednesday, the Kremin announced.
“Putin expressed hope for joint work to restore Russian-American relations from their state of crisis, and also to address pressing international issues and search for effective responses to challenges concerning global security,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin also said he was confident that a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington would serve the interests of both countries, the Kremlin added.
In the past, Trump has praised Putin, saying that he would have a “very, very good relationship with Putin” as president.
“The man has very strong control over a country,” Trump said at forum on national security in September. “Now, it’s a very different system and I don’t happen to like the system, but certainly in that system, he’s been a leader. Far more than our president [Obama] has been a leader. We have a divided country.”
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