Russian President Vladimir Putin praised US President-elect Donald Trump as “intelligent” and “experienced” while speaking to reporters on Thursday.
“As far as I can imagine, the newly elected president is an intelligent and already quite experienced person,” Putin told reporters in Kazakhstan, according to CNN.
He added that he’s optimistic the Trump administration will be able to ease the fraught relationship between the U.S. and Russia.
“I think he will find a solution,” Putin said of Trump.
The Russian president also weighed in on the slew of federal and state cases against Trump, some of which were dismissed this month, calling them “humiliating, unfounded judicial procedures.”
Putin’s remarks came one day after Trump nominated retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg to be his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.