Kremlin voices hope to restore Russian-US ties

By Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan

MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the U.S President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday and voiced hope that ties between the two countries would be restored.

In a statement published on the Kremlin's website, Putin said Moscow also hoped to work with the U.S. to find "answers to the global security threats".

Putin also said that building a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington based on principles of equality and mutual respect "will be for the benefit of peoples of both countries and the world".

Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has also voiced hope that a more constructive dialogue would be established between Moscow and Washington following Republican Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election.

At a press conference in Moscow, Volodin said the Moscow-Washington ties up to now had not been friendly.

"I want to believe a more constructive dialogue will be possible with the new U.S. president. The Russian parliament will support all efforts in that way," he said.

During the campaign, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had lambasted Trump's seemingly positive statements about Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a debate, she went further saying the Russian leader was supporting Trump because "he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States."