United States President Donald Trump is yet to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin following his landslide victory in the presidential election, and a phone call between the two leaders hasn't been set up yet, the White House confirmed on Monday.
Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters that the Trump administration will "work to cultivate the relationship we have with Russia" but added that they will also "obviously" impose "costs when Russia threatens our interests," according to CNN.
"We're not surprised by the outcome," Gidley said of the Russian election.
Following Putin's landslide victory on Sunday, international election monitors had called the election "overly controlled" and said it "lacked genuine competition".
Putin won the recently-concluded Russian Presidential elections paving way for his fourth term.
Putin secured 74 percent of presidential votes polled according to a state-run exit poll.
He has been holding the Presidential office of Russia since 2012 after winning three Presidential elections consecutively.