After six weeks of waiting from the election day and a day after the official affirmation of the win by the Electoral College, Russian President Vladimir congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the United States' presidential election on Tuesday.
According to the Kremlin, while a number of leaders already congratulated President-elect Biden within days of the election, they want to wait for the right time and for the official results to be released before the Russian President congratulated the winner of the election.
A Kremlin readout shared on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin wished the President-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the US, which bear special responsibility for global security and stability, and despite the differences between the two nations, they know that they can contribute to solving the challenges and problems that the world is facing as of the moment.
The Russian President also emphasized that the Russian-American cooperation which is based on the principles of equality and mutual respect would meet the interests of people in both countries as well as the entire international community.
Putin also stated that for his part, he is ready for cooperation and contacts with the President-elect, CBS News reported.
The outreach made by the Kremlin to the incoming administration comes amid news that may further strain US-Russian relations, as it is followed by a CNN-Bellingcat investigation which identified Russian specialists who trailed the main political opponent of Putin, the opposition leader of Alexey Navalny.
Read also:Attorney General William Barr Resigns, Trump Announces
It also came after officials of the US scramble to respond to a massive data breach which is attributed to Russian hackers.
The recent move by the Kremlin is a contrast to their move in 2016 when they congratulated the US President Donald Trump within hours of the race being called, but the administration of Biden will have a very different attitude towards Russia.
The lavished praise of Trump towards Putin during his term stoked suspicions over his campaign's possible connection to Russian meddling in the election.
The same treatment or kind of relationship cannot be expected with Biden as the President-elect vowed to treat any foreign interference as an adversarial act.
According to CNN, the director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, Karin von Hippel, shared in the wake of the election last month that Biden will work hard with partners and allies to push back any activities or movements done by Russia, whether it is trying to assassinate overseas citizens of Russia or kill their own opposition leaders just like the alleged attempt with Serbia's Navalny, or activities in Syria, Crimea.
She also added that she thinks Putin knows that there will be a lot of effort to be done in trying to contain Russia.
Based on von Hippel, who is also a former nonpolitical senior adviser at the State Department under the Obama administration, stated that Russia has had a free hand for some years which includes at the end of years in the office of former President Barack Obama, the USA Today reported.
In his 60-minute interview in late October, Biden tagged Russia as the main threat to the US national security and Kremlin spokesman Peskov also responded that by saying such rhetoric amplified the hatred towards the Russian Federation.
Related article: President-Elect Joe Biden Secures Electoral College Vote, Cements US Presidential Victory
