Russia’s Putin says ready for dialogue with ‘courageous’ Trump

The Russian leader congratulates Trump on winning the US election, saying he was ready for talks with the Republican president-elect.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on winning the United States election, saying Moscow was ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.

In his first public remarks since Trump’s win, Putin on Thursday praised the US leader’s courage during an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 14.

“He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way – courageously, like a real man,” Putin said at the Valdai discussion club, an international forum, in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Russia-Ukraine war

Russia’s Putin says ready for dialogue with ‘courageous’ Trump

The Russian leader congratulates Trump on winning the US election, saying he was ready for talks with the Republican president-elect.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on winning the United States election, saying Moscow was ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.

Asked whether he was open to holding talks with Trump, the Russian leader said, “Ready”.

Putin, 72, also said that Trump’s comments “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least”.

The Kremlin earlier welcomed Trump’s claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine “in 24 hours” but emphasised that it would wait for concrete policy steps.