First world leader to Congratulate Trump
Russian President President Vladimir Putin holds up a glass during a toast at a luncheon hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Expectedly, REPUBLICAN candidate, Donald Trump’s, election as the next American president sent shock waves round the world and set markets tumbling — but it is pleasing to Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Within hours of Trump’s acceptance speech, Putin congratulated him and flagged Moscow’s willingness to fully restore ties with its old Cold War foe, currently at loggerheads over how to deal with the Syria conflict.
Russia featured heavily in a heated campaign period, with Trump praising Putin as a firm leader as US officials accused Moscow of meddling by leaking hacked Democratic emails to undermine Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“(Trump) spoke about resuming and restoring relations with Russia. We understand the way to that will be difficult, taking into account the current state of degradation of relations between the US and Russia,” Putin told Russian state television.
“As I have repeatedly said, that is not our fault that Russia-US relations are in that state. Russia is ready and wants to restore the fully fledged relations with the US. I repeat we understand this will be difficult but we are ready to play our part in it.”
The Kremlin earlier issued a statement saying Putin had expressed belief in building a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington.
CREDIT: CNN.COM
