Putin congratulates Trump, signals warming relations
It happened: Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his success in the presidential elections. He did so in a rather unusual way during his speech at the Valdai Club meeting in Sochi.
"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America," Putin stated during his speech at the Valdai Club meeting. "I already said that we will work with any U.S. president who gains the trust of the American people. And that will be the case," he added.
This is Putin's first comment regarding Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential elections.
Until now, the Kremlin had been very cautious in commenting on the election results. On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reminded that the United States is still considered an unfriendly state, and only time will tell if the rhetoric of the new American leader about ending the war in Ukraine will translate into reality.
On Thursday, during a press conference, Peskov was more expansive on the topic. He even stated that if Trump's new administration, "is going to look for peace, not for the continuation of the war, it will be better in comparison with the previous one."
Putin ready for contact with Trump
Putin himself, during the event in Sochi, spoke very critically about Western countries, including the USA. He claimed that their "geopolitical greed" is the cause of most conflicts, "starting from the tragedy of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya." - And today also in Ukraine and the Middle East," he said.
However, his tone clearly warmed when he began talking about Trump.
"You can have any opinion about him," said Putin. "They said he is primarily a businessman, that he doesn’t know much about politics, and that he may make mistakes. His behavior at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man," stated Putin.
"As for politics, I feel that he was hounded from all sides and wasn't allowed to make any moves. He was afraid to take a step to the right or left or say the wrong word. I don't know what will happen now, I have no idea," continued Putin. "What was said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis in my opinion this deserves attention at least," he stated.
He also added that he is ready for contact with Trump, although he doesn't think Trump would call him with a proposal for a meeting before the inauguration, which is supposed to take place in January 2025.
