--- title: Donald Trump: Vladimir Putin's "Thoughts Are So Correct" description: Donald Trump on Friday released a letter he received from Vladimir Putin and praised him by saying "his thoughts are so correct" canonical: https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-23T17:11:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:57:16.448Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump on Letter From Putin: 'His Thoughts Are So Correct' og:description: "I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts." og:url: https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08e8937d2c316985/6988b3ef86f68e58ff6e3055/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3232 og:image:height: 1818 og:image:alt: RUSSIA-POLITICS-PUTIN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump on Letter From Putin: 'His Thoughts Are So Correct' twitter:description: "I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08e8937d2c316985/6988b3ef86f68e58ff6e3055/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump on Letter From Vladimir Putin: 'His Thoughts Are So Correct' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=40baa520-4206-40f3-af41-413bec4febdd&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Putin Says Democrats Trying to ‘Pass the Buck’ with Election Rigging Claims [Watch (HLS stream): Putin Says Democrats Trying to ‘Pass the Buck’ with Election Rigging Claims](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9h7PQRyj.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2016-12-23. "As was rightly said by the president-elect, no one knows what hackers these were"_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 23, 2016 5:11 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 23, 2016 5:11 PM UTC President-elect Donald Trump on Friday released a letter he received from Vladimir Putin and praised the Russian president by saying “his thoughts are so correct.” “A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct,” Trump said in a statement, along with the letter, which is dated Dec. 15\. “I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path.” In the attached letter—which is marked as an unofficial translation—Putin wished Trump well and said he hoped to “bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level.” At his annual news conference Friday, [Putin dismissed accusations](http://time.com/4617360/vladimir-putin-russian-involvement-u-s-election/) from U.S. intelligence officials that Russia [interfered in the U.S. presidential election](http://time.com/4512771/how-russia-wants-undermine-us-election/). Putin also said Russia was not seeking a new nuclear arms race, the [New York _Times_ reported](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-press-conference.html), after Trump said Thursday that the U.S. should “greatly strengthen and [expand its nuclear capability](http://time.com/4616711/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons/).” “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 wrote in the letter as released by Trump. “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.” ## Transcript [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ APPLAUSE ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/"},"headline":"Donald Trump on Letter From Vladimir Putin: 'His Thoughts Are So Correct'","datePublished":"2016-12-23T17:11:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:57:16.448Z","description":"'I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts'","url":"https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/","keywords":["Donald Trump","russia","2016 Election","Vladimir Putin","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08e8937d2c316985/6988b3ef86f68e58ff6e3055/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08e8937d2c316985/6988b3ef86f68e58ff6e3055/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"RUSSIA-POLITICS-PUTIN","caption":"RUSSIA-POLITICS-PUTIN","creditText":"Natalia Kolesnikova—AFP/Getty Images","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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/","name":"Donald Trump on Letter From Vladimir Putin: 'His Thoughts Are So Correct'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Putin Says Democrats Trying to ‘Pass the Buck’ with Election Rigging Claims","description":"\"As was rightly said by the president-elect, no one knows what hackers these were\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/9h7PQRyj/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-23T15:12:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9h7PQRyj.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/","duration":"PT1M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4617509/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-letter/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```