US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin today spoke over phone for the first time and agreed on the need for jointly working to normalise "extremely unsatisfactory state" of ties between the two nations.


Putin "called to offer his congratulations on winning a historic election," according to a Trump statement. The two leaders discussed issues including shared threats, strategic economic issues and the historical US-Russia relationship.


The Russian President was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Trump last Wednesday, sending him a telegram about an hour after he had emerged the victor, but the two have not met nor had they spoken previously.