Putin congratulates Trump before inauguration, says open to talks on Ukraine, nuclear arms

Face masks depicting U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, hang among others for sale at a street souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

MOSCOW, Jan 20 - Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on taking office hours before Trump’s inauguration in Washington and said he was open to dialog with the new U.S. administration on Ukraine and nuclear arms.

Putin, who said he wanted to secure a long-lasting peace in Ukraine rather than a short ceasefire, made the comments during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council that was shown on state TV.

“We see the statements by the newly elected president of the United States and members of his team about the desire to restore direct contacts with Russia,” said Putin.

“We also hear his statement about the need to do everything possible to prevent World War Three. We of course welcome this attitude and congratulate the elected president of the United States of America on taking office.”

Putin’s statement reflects cautious hopes in Russia that Trump may be able to begin to repair ties between Washington and Moscow, which have fallen to their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, even as many Russian government officials publicly say they realize that such hopes may come to nothing.

Putin, who usually holds Security Council meetings on Fridays rather than Mondays, said Russia was open to talks with the new administration on a range of what he called key international issues, including on nuclear arms and security and on the Ukraine conflict.

Trump has promised to swiftly end the war in Ukraine, though he has not explained exactly how he would do that.

Putin has said before that he is ready for talks but that Russia’s territorial gains and claims must be accepted, something the Ukrainian leadership has rejected as an unacceptable capitulation.

‘Long-term peace’

“As for the resolution of the situation (in Ukraine) itself, I would like to emphasize that the goal should not be a brief ceasefire, not some kind of period of respite that would allow a regrouping and rearmament of forces, but a long-term peace based on respect for the legitimate interests of all people and all peoples who live in the region,” Putin said on Monday.

He also indicated that Moscow was ready to discuss nuclear arms control and wider security issues.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them, is due to run out on Feb. 5, 2026.

It is the last remaining pillar of nuclear arms control between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow, Andrew Osborn, Lucy Papachristou and Darya Korsunskaya in London Editing by Gareth Jones)