Putin Congratulates Trump’s Election Win, Wants Better Relations

World leaders showed mixed reactions to the recent victory of Trump as the new President-elect of the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin is among the first to congratulate Trump for the win.

While U.S. allies are shaken with the election results, Russia's leader looks forward to a promising restored relationship between U.S. and Russia. According to CNN, Putin told Russian State Television that "(Trump) spoke about resuming and restoring relations with Russia. We understand the way to that will be difficult, taking into account the current state of the degradation of relations between the U.S. and Russia." Furthermore, he acknowledged that while this may not be easy for both countries, but they are ready and are willing to play their part in it.

Followers of the U.S. election campaign can recall how Trump complimented Putin as a firm leader when Moscow was accused by U.S. officials interfering to weaken Clinton's candidacy. Perhaps, they took this as another affirmation to vouch for Trump. The Russian parliament's applause for his victory was captured in CNN's Breaking News.

As reported by USA Today, the U.S.-Russia relationship worsened since 2014, but President Obama thought of mending ties as part of his earliest foreign policy initiatives before Russia intervened in Ukraine's conflict. Considering this, not everyone in the region shares the same positive sentiments. Some think that the Trump they knew during pre-election could be a different elected Trump after all. As what The Guardian reported Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin analyst, would put it, "Putin is a macho, Trump is also a macho. Maybe it could be a problem."

The future is yet to unfold for these two countries; even Russia's leader is yet to express details on how he plans to improve relations. As of this time, nothing is certain but for Trump's victory.