Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted President Donald Trump to win the 2016 election because he believed Trump's policies would be more friendly to the Kremlin.

"Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the US-Russia relationship back to normal," Putin said, standing alongside Trump at a joint news conference. Donald Trump also blamed bad relations between Moscow and Washington on the US investigation into alleged Russian election meddling — and Russia promptly agreed. Putin was asked whether he directed any of his officials to help Trump's presidential campaign, but Putin appeared to sidestep that part of the question.