Why Putin can’t congratulate Trump on US election results

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Wednesday it would judge Donald Trump, who claimed victory in the US presidential election, by his actions and President Vladimir Putin has no plans to congratulate him.

Relations between Russia and the US are at an all-time low since the end of the Cold War, with Moscow angry over Western support to Ukraine.

“We will draw conclusions based on concrete steps and concrete words,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

If elected, Trump has claimed he would end the fighting in Ukraine within 24 hours.

Peskov said the US is “capable of helping end this conflict” in Ukraine, but is also “a country that instigates the conflict”.

Peskov said Trump had made some “quite harsh statements” during his campaign, but he also spoke about “his aspirations for peace in the international arena, his aspirations to end politics based on continuing old wars”.

He added: “But after the victory, preparing to enter the Oval Office, sometimes the statements take on a different tone.”

The Kremlin also said it would be “practically impossible” for the next administration to further worsen Russia-US relations because they are “at their lowest point in history”.

He rejected allegations that Russia had interfered in the US elections.

Peskov said he was “not aware” of Putin’s plans to congratulate Trump, because the US is an “unfriendly country that is directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state”, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin was one of the last leaders to congratulate Joe Biden on his 2020 election victory, sending his congratulatory message six weeks after the vote.