President of Russia Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on Monday with the upcoming inauguration, noting the readiness to restore "direct contacts" with the White House. "We heard his statements about the need to do everything possible to avoid a Third World War. Let's see what happens next," - said Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the president for international affairs, a few days ago. "Of course, we welcome this attitude and congratulate the elected president of the United States on his inauguration," - Putin noted at a remote meeting of the CIS Collective Security Council on relations with the USA, broadcasted on television.
Putin reminded that the victory in the presidential elections in November was "convincing" and that Trump demonstrated "courage" during the pre-election campaign, which was "not easy" for Trump and his family because of "the threats to his life."
He also emphasized that Moscow dismissed Trump's statements and his group's "desire to restore direct contacts with Russia, which were broken not due to our fault, but by the administration of a previous post."
Putin underlined that Russia has "never" refused dialogue and has always been ready to establish "cooperation relations with any US administration."
"We proceed from the fact that dialogue should be built on the basis of equality and mutual respect, taking into account the significant role of our countries in addressing key issues of global society, including strengthening stability and strategic security," - he insisted.
In particular, he noted that Moscow is "open" for dialogue with the new US administration on resolving the Ukrainian conflict. "The main thing here is to eliminate the initial reasons for the crisis," - he said, clearly hinting at the proximity of NATO military infrastructure to Russian borders.
Moreover, he underscored that the goal of de-escalation in Ukraine "should not be a short-term ceasefire, nor a pause for regrouping or rearming with an aim to prolonging the conflict, but rather a lasting peace based on respect for the lawful interests of all peoples living in this region."
Putin added that Russia will continue to advocate for the interests of its people within the framework of 'special military operation,' which began in February 2022.
The head of the Kremlin listened to a report by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on relations with the USA.
The Kremlin hopes that the initiative will call back its Russian counterpart by phone, Trump himself will take the initiative. "I don't want to leave the impression that in Moscow they are sitting and waiting for a call from Washington. No, we are calmly waiting for when Trump's team will begin to exercise its functions, and he will enter the Western cabinet."
