Donald Trump Was Told Not to Congratulate Vladimir Putin on Re-election, He Did it Anyway

Washington: President Donald Trump was warned in briefing materials to refrain from congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election, but he did so anyway, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

Aides included a section in Trump's briefing materials for the yesterday morning call stating: "DO NOT CONGRATULATE," said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. The message was first reported by The Washington Post.

It was unclear whether Trump, who prefers oral briefings, read the talking points prepared by his national security team before the call. National Security Adviser HR McMaster briefed the president in person before the call in the White House residence.

Trump's call of congratulations drew him bruising criticism from members of his own party even before the Post reported that aides had given him instructions not to do so.

Trump also said he and Putin might meet "in the not too distant future" to discuss the arms race and other matters.

What they didn't discuss yesterday was noteworthy as well: Trump did not raise Russia's meddling in the US elections or its suspected involvement in the recent poisoning of a former spy in Britain.

"An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and has pressed the Trump administration to respond aggressively to Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Republican Sen Jeff Flake of Arizona, a frequent Trump critic, called the president's call "odd." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Trump "can call whomever he chooses" but noted that calling Putin "wouldn't have been high on my list."

At the State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said it was "no surprise" that Putin was re-elected, commenting that some people were paid to turn out to vote and opposition leaders were intimidated or jailed.

She also cited a preliminary report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that said Russia's election took place in an overly controlled environment that lacked an even playing field for all contenders.

Her comments were notably tougher on Russia than those coming from the White House.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump's call and noted that President Barack Obama made a similar call at the time of Putin's last electoral victory.

"We don't get to dictate how other countries operate," Sanders said.

The action and reaction fit a Trump White House pattern of declining to chide authoritarian regimes for undemocratic practices.

Trump himself has long been reluctant to publicly criticize Putin. He said that during their hoped-for meeting the two men would likely discuss Ukraine, Syria and North Korea, among other things.

"I suspect that we'll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race, to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control, but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have," Trump said.

White House staffers are frustrated by the damaging leak from a sensitive document accessible only to a select group of aides, the senior administration official told the AP.

Russia has received global condemnation after Britain blamed Moscow for the recent nerve agent attack that sickened Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Russia has denied the accusation.

Trump's call came at a period of heightened tensions between the two nations after the White House imposed sanctions on Russia for its interference in the 2016 U S election and other "malicious cyberattacks." Sanders insisted that the administration has scolded Putin at the appropriate times.

"We've been very clear in the actions that we've taken that we're going to be tough on Russia, particularly when it comes to areas that we feel where they've stepped out of place."

The Kremlin said in a statement that Trump and Putin spoke about a need to "coordinate efforts to limit the arms race" and for closer cooperation on strategic stability and counterterrorism.

"Special attention was given to considering the issue of a possible bilateral summit," the Kremlin statement said.

In addition, the two presidents expressed satisfaction with the apparent easing of tensions over North Korea's weapons program, according to the Kremlin.

No details were released about the timing or location of a possible meeting, which would be their third since Trump took office in January 2017.