Putin calls for Russia-US 'pragmatic cooperation' in New Year's message to Trump

Russian president says ‘mutual respect’ could be a ‘base to develop relations’ between the two countries

30 December 2017, 2:09pm

1 min read

Russian president Vladimir Putin has called for 'pragmatic cooperation' between Russia and the United States in his New Year's message to US president Donald Trump

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Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, has called for ‘pragmatic cooperation’ with the United States in his New Year’s message to US president Donald Trump, the Kremlin reported today.

The Kremlin announced that Putin told Trump that a "a constructive Russian-American dialogue is especially needed to strengthen strategic stability in the world”.

The Russian president also made reference to using ‘mutual respect’ as ‘a base to develop relations’ between his country and the US.

Putin emphasised that ‘This would allow us to move towards building pragmatic cooperation, orientated on the long term’, the Kremlin said.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, relations between Moscow and Washington sank to their lowest since the end of the Cold War.

Putin reportedly also sent messages to other heads of state, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assar and French president Emmanuel Macron.