Trump’s Failure To Congratulate Putin Not An ‘Unfriendly Move’ – Russia

Kremlin does not consider the absence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s congratulations to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection as an unfriendly move, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

“First of all, we do not consider it an unfriendly move. You know that President Putin remains open to normalisation of relations with our U.S. partners where it is interesting and necessary for us.

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“Secondly, you know that the president receives a large number of congratulations from foreign leaders, someone cannot call because of the schedule, someone for other reasons, there is nothing to exaggerate,” Peskov told reporters, when asked how Kremlin reacted to the White House announcement that Trump did not plan to call Putin to congratulate him on the victory in the presidential election.

Putin won a landslide re-election victory on Sunday, extending his rule over the world’s largest country for another six years.

Putin’s victory will take his political dominance of Russia to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024, by which time he will be 71.

Putin has promised to use his new term to beef up Russia’s defenses against the West and to raise living standards.

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In a widely expected outcome, the Central Election Commission, with just over 70 per cent of the votes counted, announced that Putin, who has dominated the political landscape for the last 18 years, had won 75.9 per cent of the vote.

In a victory speech near Red Square, Putin told a cheering crowd he interpreted the win as a vote of confidence in what he had achieved in tough conditions.

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