Russian President Vladimir Putin has written a letter to President-elect Donald Trump bringing 'warmest Christmas and New Year greetings'
Wishes the incoming president 'sound health, happiness, wellbeing, success and all the best'
Putin also called for bilateral cooperation and 'pragmatic' work
Trump has called for better relations with Russia, including jointly battling terrorism
Trump tweeted Thursday that he's like to see the U.S. 'strengthen and expand its nuclear capability'
MSNBC host Mike Brzezinski says Trump told her Friday: 'Let it be an arms race'
Trump's tweet comes on the heels of Putin's speech in which the leader called for a strengthening of 'strategic nuclear forces'
Russian President Vladimir Putin has written President-elect Donald Trump a letter with 'Christmas and New Year greetings' that also calls for strong bilateral cooperation in global affairs.
Trump's transition sent out the letter, quoting Trump as calling it a 'very nice letter from Vladimir Putin' – on a day when he and Putin were engaging in long-distance rhetoric about a potential nuclear arms race.
'His thoughts are so correct. I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path,' Trump said in a statement.
Putin's letter offers warm personal greetings, as well as a call for acting together in a 'constructive and pragmatic manner.'
Trump called throughout his campaign for better relations with Russia, and he must decide within months of taking office whether to extend economic sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
'Dear Mr. Trump, Please accept my warmest Christmas and New Year greetings,' Putin begins, in a letter dated December 15, a document that refers to the president-elect as 'His Excellency.'
'Serious global and regional challenges, which our countries have to face in recent years, show that the relations between Russia and the U.S. remain an important factor in ensuring stability and security of the modern world,' Putin continued.
'I hope that after you assume the position of the President of the United States of America we will be able – by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner - to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level.'
'Please accept my sincere wishes to you and your family of sound health, happiness, wellbeing, success and all the best,' Putin concludes.
Among other things, Trump has called for joint U.S.-Russian efforts against ISIS. Russia has been aiding Syria's President Bashar Assad's military, which has overrun rebel forces in Aleppo in recent weeks.
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