"His behaviour at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man," Putin said at an international forum following a speech in the Black Sea resort of Sochi

"He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man," he added

Putin also said that what Trump has said "about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least"

The Kremlin earlier welcomed Trump's claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine "in 24 hours" but emphasised that it will wait for concrete policy steps

"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America," Putin said in a question-and-answer session at the conference

As to what he expects from a second Trump administration, Putin said, "I don't know what will happen now. I have no idea"

"For him, this is still his last presidential term. What he will do is his matter," Putin said

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the Kremlin is not ruling out the possibility of contact between Putin and Trump before the inauguration, given that Trump "said he would call Putin before the inauguration"

Peskov has emphasised that Moscow views the US as an "unfriendly" country that is directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict. He dismissed arguments that Putin's failure to reach out quickly to Trump could hurt future ties, saying that Moscow's relations with Washington already are at the "lowest point in history" and arguing that it will be up to the new US leadership to change the situation