Vladimir Putin congratulates 'courageous' Donald Trump

Vladimir Putin has congratulated 'courageous' Donald Trump on his election victory, as the US President-elect says: 'I think we'll speak.'

Putin said today he was 'ready' to hold discussions with Trump with the despot having been impressed with how he handled himself 'like a man' during an assassination attempt at a rally earlier this year.

'I take this opportunity to congratulate him,' Putin said in remarks to the Valdai forum in the southern city of Sochi.

Trump said he had probably spoken to 70 leaders since his astonishing election win, but Putin was not one of them.

But he added: 'I think we'll speak.'

The Kremlin chief also said Moscow was ready to talk to Trump when he enters the White House and mocked NATO 's reliance on the United States.

Putin's remarks raised fears that Russia could seek to exploit weaknesses in NATO should the US withdraw from its commitment to protect its European allies.

Trump came within inches of death during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 when would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire just a few hundred feet from the stage.

Trump emerged with blood trickling down his cheek after he was shot in the ear, but defiantly raised his fist in the air and repeatedly shouted 'fight'.

The Russian President was impressed with how Trump handled himself saying 'he turned out to be a courageous person'.

'People show who they are in extraordinary circumstances,' Putin said.

'This is where a person reveals himself. And he showed himself, in my opinion, in a very correct manner, courageously. Like a man.'

For decades, the US has poured billions of dollars into securing the continent against the threat of Russian invasion.

Its expenditure on defence is also more than double that of all NATO's other members combined. The alliance also relies on the US to provide specific military capabilities.

But Trump's 'America First' strategy includes making Europe entirely responsible for its security - a scenario which could potentially provide Russia with a military advantage.

Speaking at a security conference in Sochi, President Putin seized upon NATO's apparent vulnerability under a Trump presidency.

Putin said that without US leadership NATO would no longer be able to dominate its 'zone of influence'.

Putin's assessment is supported by official NATO figures which reveal the US currently spends twice as much on defence as all other members of the alliance combined.

NATO also relies on the US to provide specific military capabilities, such as air power and ballistic missile defences.

Setting out his country's foreign policy agenda, Putin added that NATO was subject to 'the diktat of the older brother', meaning the United States.

He then compared this imbalance to the supposed equality of the BRICS group of countries - an intergovernmental organisation led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Its other members include Russia's close ally Iran.

Putin suggested that, unlike NATO, BRICS was an example of constructive cooperation.

Russia continued its onslaught of Ukraine, killing one person and wounding 17 more in an air strike on the frontline city of Zaporizhzhia.

While dozens of Russia drones targeted the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in an eight-hour overnight attack. The conflict has been ensuing for almost 1,000 days.

Russia is currently deploying ten times more Iranian-made Shahed drones that at the start of the war - and North Korean troops are fighting alongside their Russian allies on the frontline.

Putin also said he hoped full diplomatic relations with the United States could be restored, another sign of the accord between himself and Trump.

The Russian president blamed the outgoing US president Joe Bien for the current state of relations between the superpowers.

Before yesterday's Sochi speech by Putin the world had been awaiting his reaction to Trump's impending return to office.

It was thought the Kremlin chief would seek to play down Russia's support for the President-Elect.

Instead, Putin was effusive in his remarks about Trump, heralding his bravery following attempts on his life.

He also claimed that Trump had been bullied, or unfairly targeted by political enemies during his first term in office.

Russia is widely believed to have attempted to influence Trump's previous presidential elections in his favour