Putin congratulates Trump on winning US election

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent Donald Trump a telegram of congratulation on winning the U.S. presidential election.

In a brief statement Wednesday, the Kremlin said Putin expressed “his hope to work together for removing Russian-American relations from their crisis state.”

Putin also said he has “confidence that building a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington that is based on principles of equality, mutual respect and a real accounting each other’s positions, in the interests of our peoples and the world community.”