Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he had recently spoken to President-elect Donald Trump and that their “opinions coincided” that the relationship between the two nations had to be “straightened out.”
In a speech at a foreign policy conference in Moscow, Putin said “during my recent telephone conversation with Mr. Donald Trump, our opinions coincided that the current, unsatisfactory state of Russia-US relations, undoubtedly must be straightened out. As I already have said, our country is prepared to go down our part of that road.”
“In the past few years, unfortunately, we know this, Russian-US relations have substantially degraded. But this is not our fault,” Putin said.
CNN has reached out to Trump’s transition team for comment and has not yet received a response.
“Now, after the uproar of the US election campaign is over, and soon a new president will arrive at the White House, we would like to believe that a chance will appear to smooth relations, which is important not only for the people of both countries but for ensuring international stability and security,” Putin added.
Trump’s relationship with Putin has been scrutinized throughout the presidential election, and the US President-elect has praised Putin a firm leader. Over the summer, US intelligence officials accused Russia of meddling in the presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing emails of Clinton campaign officials.
