Trump talks to Putin, looks forward to ‘enduring’ relationship

President-elect Donald Trump accepted congratulations on his White House win from Vladimir Putin on Monday and told the Russian leader he looked forward to a “strong and enduring” relationship with Russia and its people.

A statement from Trump’s transition team said the two leaders discussed “a range of issues including the threats and challenges facing the United States and Russia, strategic economic issues and the historical U.S.-Russia relationship that dates back over 200 years.”  

{mosads}The Kremlin said the two leaders “agreed to assess the current very poor state of Russian-American relations, but also spoke in favor of active joint work to their normalization … in the direction of constructive cooperation on a wide range of issues,” according to a statement.  

“[They] underlined, in particular, the importance of creating a solid foundation of bilateral ties through the development of their trade and economic component,” the statement said. 

Trump famously praised Putin as a strong leader during the presidential campaign, enduring some criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike in the process. He has spoken of the need to work with Russia against terrorists, and his comments about renegotiating NATO have been applauded by Moscow.

Relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated over the last decade, with the U.S. government under President Obama fiercely critical of Russia’s annexing of the formerly Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014. 

The Trump transition team readout was notable for its overall positive tone. Readouts of Obama’s meetings with Putin often highlighted areas of disagreement between the two sides. 

The Kremlin’s statement said Putin and Trump would continue to talk by phone and work toward meeting in person. It said both leaders discussed the need for joint efforts to fight terrorism and extremism, as well as ending the crisis in Syria. 

Putin said during the call he was willing to build a dialogue with the new administration on “principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of each other,” according to the statement. 

He also called for a return to “pragmatic, mutually beneficial cooperation, which would meet the interests of both countries, stability and security throughout the world.”