Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said he does not know whether Vladimir Putin plans to congratulate Donald Trump on his election victory, but he recalled that the United States is an unfriendly country involved in a war against Russia.
“As for congratulations, I am not aware of the president’s plans to congratulate Trump,” Peskov told reporters in response to a question on the matter.
At the same time, he noted: “Let’s not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country that is directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state.”
Peskov was asked whether he thought Trump might be offended if Putin did not congratulate him on his victory, and whether this would worsen relations between Russia and the US even more.
“It is practically impossible to worsen things further; relations are at their historical lowest point. And what happens next will depend on the next US leadership. President Putin has repeatedly said that he is open to constructive dialogue based on justice, equality and a willingness to take each other’s concerns into account. And President Putin maintains this attitude. He has repeatedly confirmed it. At the moment, the US administration is diametrically opposed. We will see what happens in January,” Peskov said.
In general, the elections, he noted, are an internal matter for the United States. “We, of course, are closely monitoring all the information flows that are coming from overseas on this matter, we are analyzing the words that are being said, and of course, we will mainly draw conclusions based on the statements, on the topics that are on our agenda, when they come in,” the Kremlin representative said.
In addition, conclusions will be drawn based on the first concrete steps, Peskov added.
At the same time, the press secretary reminded that this will have to wait, since the current US president will continue to perform his duties for at least another month and a half.
At the same time, responding to a clarification about what would happen if Trump made friendly statements, Peskov said: “As our diplomats say, eventual discussions are inappropriate here.”
