--- title: Putin Says Russia Would "Welcome" a Trump Presidency description: Putin commented on the U.S. Presidential race during his annual press conference canonical: https://time.com/4153183/putin-trump-presidency/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-17T14:59:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:27:35.223Z article:section: Politics og:title: Putin Says Russia Would 'Welcome' a Trump Presidency og:description: He called Trump the "absolute leader" in the presidential race og:url: https://time.com/4153183/putin-trump-presidency/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf21d945497d90d/698875d3f887dc11c4e93c93/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Putin Says Russia Would 'Welcome' a Trump Presidency twitter:description: He called Trump the "absolute leader" in the presidential race twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf21d945497d90d/698875d3f887dc11c4e93c93/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Putin Says Russia Would 'Welcome' a Trump Presidency  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Dec 17, 2015 2:59 PM UTC  Putin at his annual press conference on Dec. 17. Putin at his annual press conference on Dec. 17.Sasha Mordovets—Getty  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Dec 17, 2015 2:59 PM UTC Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he could envision Russia [welcoming relations](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-no-major-gaps-with-washington-over-efforts-to-end-syria-conflict/2015/12/17/a178255e-a431-11e5-8318-bd8caed8c588%5Fstory.html?tid=sm%5Ffb) with a U.S. led by Donald Trump. During his annual year-end press conference on Thursday, Putin called Trump the “absolute leader in the presidential race,” the Washington _Post_ reports. “He’s saying he wants to go to another level of relations, closer, deeper relations with Russia,” Putin continued. “How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome that.” Putin also said Trump is “a very lively man, talented without doubt,” but added that Russia would work with “whomever the American voters choose.” Trump has [previously said](http://time.com/3978915/donald-trump-putin-comment/) he would “get along very well” with the Russian president. \[[_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-no-major-gaps-with-washington-over-efforts-to-end-syria-conflict/2015/12/17/a178255e-a431-11e5-8318-bd8caed8c588%5Fstory.html?tid=sm%5Ffb)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4153183/putin-trump-presidency/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4153183/putin-trump-presidency/"},"headline":"Putin Says Russia Would 'Welcome' a Trump Presidency","datePublished":"2015-12-17T14:59:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:27:35.223Z","description":"Putin commented on the U.S. Presidential race during his annual press conference","url":"https://time.com/4153183/putin-trump-presidency/","keywords":["russia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf21d945497d90d/698875d3f887dc11c4e93c93/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddf21d945497d90d/698875d3f887dc11c4e93c93/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference","caption":"vladimir-putin-donald-trump-press-conference","creditText":"Sasha Mordovets—Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4153183/putin-trump-presidency/","name":"Putin Says Russia Would 'Welcome' a Trump Presidency"}}]}] ```