Putin congratulates Trump on his election victory

2024-11-07 21:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential elections held on November 5.

These are the first public statements of the Russian leader regarding the result of the American elections, where Trump defeated the Democratic vice president, Kamala Harris.

Putin congratulated Trump after a speech he gave during an international conference in Sochi on the Black Sea.

"I want to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America," Putin said.

Asked if he was open to holding talks with Trump, the Russian leader said: "I'm ready."

Putin added that Trump has said that "he wants to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, and in my opinion, he at least deserves attention."

Asked what he expects from Trump's second term as president, Putin said "I don't know what will happen now, I have no idea."

"For him, this will be the last presidential term. He will do his job," Putin said.

During the campaign for the presidential elections, Trump had declared that if elected president, he would very quickly end the war that Russia started against Ukraine in 2022. He has also criticized the billions in aid that the US has given to Ukraine.

Earlier, the Kremlin had welcomed Trump's claim that he could negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours", but stressed that he would wait for concrete steps.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day that the possibility of talks between Putin and Trump before the latter's inauguration on January 20, 2025 is not excluded.

Earlier on November 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it would be "suicidal" for Europe to offer concessions to Kremlin to stop the invasion of Ukraine.

He criticized those calling on Ukraine to meet some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands and called on Europe and the United States not to weaken relations after the election of Donald Trump as US president.

Russia has made several demands for the war in Ukraine, such as taking full control of five Ukrainian regions, including the parts currently controlled by Kiev. Likewise, Moscow demands that there be a permanent stop to Ukraine's membership in NATO./ REL