Putin declines to say if he wants Donald Trump to be re-elected

ST PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday declined to say if he wanted to see U.S. President Donald Trump re-elected next year, citing a long list of disagreements with the Trump administration.

Putin, speaking at an Arctic forum in the Russian city of St Petersburg, said the question of Trump's possible re-election was a matter for the American people.

But he said he hoped Moscow and Washington would be able to work together to try to resolve their many differences on the international stage once what he described as a U.S. political crisis was over.

Putin in July last year said he had wanted Trump to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election because he had spoken of wanting to repair U.S.-Russia relations.