Putin: ‘I Would Like to Take This Opportunity to Congratulate [Trump] on His Election as President of the United States of America’

TRANSCRIPT:

PUTIN [via translator]: “But what has been said publicly so far, basically, I do not want to comment now on what was said during the election campaign, and as I think was said consciously in the fight for voters’ votes. But it is not important what was said in the desire to restore relations with Russia to contribute to the end of the Ukrainian crisis. In my opinion, it seems to me that this deserves attention at the very least. And I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America. I have already said that we will work with any head of state that the American people trust. This will indeed be the case in practice.”