Relations between Russia and the United States cannot be made worse, Peskov said.

MOSCOW: If Russian President Vladimir Putin does not congratulate Donald Trump on winning the US presidential election, relations between the countries are unlikely to get worse than they are now, Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader's press secretary, told reporters.

"It is almost impossible to worsen things further, relations are historically at their lowest point," he said.

He called the presidential election an internal matter of the United States and recalled that it was still to wait for Trump to take office. "As for congratulations, I am not aware of the president's plans to congratulate Trump on the election. Still, let's not forget that we are talking about an unfriendly country that is directly and indirectly involved in the war against our state," Peskov said.

Peskov recalled that Putin has repeatedly expressed readiness for constructive dialogue. According to the press secretary of the president, now the mood in the US administration is exactly the opposite. "We'll see what happens in January," Peskov said.

The press secretary of the head of state explained the optimistic attitude of some Russian politicians towards Trump with the pre-election statements of the Republican, who promised to end conflicts.

"Yes, this statement is quite important, but now, after the victory, actually, when preparing to enter the Oval Office or entering the Oval Office, sometimes statements take on a different tone. And that's why we say that we carefully analyze everything, observe everything and will draw conclusions based on specific words and specific steps," Peskov said.

The counting of votes in the US elections continues, but Donald Trump has already declared himself the winner. He was also named the winner by the pro-Republican Fox News channel, other major American media outlets, including CNN and AP, have not yet announced Trump's victory. Foreign leaders have already begun to congratulate the Republican on his victory. This was done, in particular, by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, French leader Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.