White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that there are no specific plans at the moment for Trump to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Tuesday that there are no specific plans at the moment for US President Donald Trump to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, fresh from a re-election victory that some US lawmakers have called a sham.
"We don't get to dictate how other countries operate. What we do know is that Putin has been elected in their country," she said when asked if Trump believed Russia's recent vote was fair and free. "It didn't come up on today's call."
In a phone call earlier in the day, Trump congratulated Putin on his recent win and the two gave special attention "to working through the question of a possible high-level meeting," according to the Kremlin.
The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin and Trump had agreed on the need to work together to curb a possible arms race and spoken of the need to cooperate to ensure strategic stability and fight international terrorism.
It said they had also discussed Syria, Ukraine and North Korea, and spoken about strengthening economic links between the two countries.
On Monday, the White House said his re-election victory was no surprise.
Spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters on Air Force One, which was carrying Trump to New Hampshire, that the United States will work with Russia where it can.
"We will work to cultivate the relationship with Russia and we will impose costs when Russia threatens our interests, but we will also look for places to work together when it serves our interests," Gidley said.
"We're not surprised by the outcome," he said of the Russian election.
Putin basked in a landslide re-election victory on Monday, extending his rule over the world's largest country for another six years at a time when his ties with the West are on a hostile trajectory.
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