Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called US President-elect Donald Trump an "intelligent person" who is capable of solving problems, as tensions between the West and Moscow escalate ahead of the Republican taking office. 

"As far as I imagine the again-elected president, he is actually an intelligent person, already quite experienced. I think he will find a solution," Putin said about Trump while on a visit to Kazakhstan, without specifying what "solution" he was referring to.  

Trump has promised to quickly restore peace in Ukraine but has not said how. On Wednesday he named staunch loyalist and retired general Keith Kellogg as his Ukraine envoy, charged with ending the two-and-a-half-year Russian invasion.

                

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.