Russian President Vladimir Putin

Biden raises election meddling with Putin in first phone call

The conversation included a discussion about the ongoing opposition protests in Russia and an extension of the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms pact.

Mr Putin congratulated the new US president on winning the election, according to a Russian statement.

Both parties said they agreed to maintain contact moving forward.

Former US President Donald Trump sometimes undercut his own administration's tough posture on Russia and was accused of being too deferential to Mr Putin.

Trump receives 'very nice' Christmas letter from Putin

Trump, Putin both seek to boost their nuclear capability

The exchange appeared to raise the prospect of a new arms race between the two nuclear superpowers, which between them boast more than 14,000 nuclear warheads, the still deadly legacy of their four-decades long Cold War standoff.

But the comments by Putin, who is presiding over a project to restore Russia's lost global power and influence, and Trump, who will shortly become the US commander-in-chief, did not spell out exactly what each side is proposing or whether a major change of nuclear doctrine is in the offing.

Putin: Make hack content public

A US official saying earlier this summer there was "little doubt" Russia was behind the attack.

"I don't know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this," PutinĀ told Bloomberg News. Still, Putin asked if it matters "who hacked this data," and argued that "the important thing is the content that was given to the public."

Putin mends broken relations with Turkey's Erdogan

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian trade sanctions on Turkey would be phased out "step by step".

"The priority is to get back to the pre-crisis level of co-operation," he told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St Petersburg.

Their relations soured last November when Turkey shot down a Russian bomber on the Syrian border.

It is Mr Erdogan's first foreign visit since an attempted coup last month. He has since launched a far-reaching purge of the armed forces and other state institutions.