MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory in his first public comment on the U.S. vote, and he praised the president-elect’s courage during the July assassination attempt.
The relationship between the two will be closely watched as Mr. Trump tries to carry out his pledge to quickly end Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine, which is rapidly approaching its third year. Mr. Trump has long bristled at accusations that he has cultivated close ties with the authoritarian Russian leader at the expense of traditional American allies and interests.
Mr. Putin, famed to a macho public image that includes shirtless portraits astride a horse, focused on Mr. Trump’s character in his congratulatory remarks.
“His behavior at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man,” Mr. Putin said at an international forum following a speech in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
“He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man,” he added.
Mr. Putin also said that what Mr. Trump has said “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 Mr. Trump’s campaign trail claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine “in 24 hours,” but emphasized that it will wait for concrete policy steps. Ukrainian officials fear any quick settlement would leave Russian forces in control of as much as a fifth of the country in the east and south.
″I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America,” Mr. Putin said in a question-and-answer session at the conference.
As to what he expects from a second Trump administration, Mr. Putin said, “I don’t know what will happen now. I have no idea.”
“For him, this is still his last presidential term. What he will do is his matter,” added Mr. Putin, who this year began a fifth term that will keep him in power until 2030 and could seek six more years in office after that.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the Kremlin is not ruling out the possibility of contact between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump before the inauguration, given that Mr. Trump “said he would call Putin before the inauguration.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has his own conflicted history with the American president-elect, has also reached out to Mr. Trump with an appeal for continued support.
Mr. Peskov has emphasized that Moscow views the U.S. under President Biden as an “unfriendly” country that is directly supporting Ukraine in the war. He dismissed arguments that Mr. Putin’s failure to reach out quickly toMr. Trump could hurt future ties, saying that Moscow’s relations with Washington already are at the “lowest point in history” and arguing that it will be up to the new U.S. leadership to change the situation.
The Kremlin’s cautious stand reflected its view of the U.S. vote as a choice between two unappealing possibilities. While Mr. Trump is known for his admiration of Putin, the Russian leader has repeatedly noted that during Mr. Trump’s first term, there were “so many restrictions and sanctions against Russia like no other president has ever introduced before him.”
The clash in Ukraine ground on even as Mr. Putin was making his remarks.
Dozens of Russian drones targeted Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in an eight-hour nighttime attack, authorities said Thursday, as Russia kept up its relentless pounding of its neighbor.
Lone Russian drones and also swarms of drones entered Ukrainian airspace from various directions and at a variety of altitudes, officials said, in what was an apparent attempt to stretch air defense systems and unnerve city residents.
Ukrainian air defenses “neutralized” three dozen drones, but falling debris caused damage to a hospital as well as residential and office buildings in Kyiv, local authorities said. A fire was ignited on the 33rd floor of an apartment building.
During the day on Thursday, Russia launched five attacks using missiles and glide bombs on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least four people and injuring 18. The attacks also damaged residential buildings and a hospital, Ukraine’s National Police said.
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