Russian President Valdimir Putin Wednesday called for cooperation between Russia and the US in a New Year's message to US President Barack Obama, Associated Press reported.
Relations between Washington and Moscow have chilled to a post-Cold War low with Russia's annexing of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, and its support for the Assad regime in Syria through continued airstrikes. The US and other regional powers have responded with economic sanctions against top Russian officials, state-owned companies, and whole segments of the Russian economy.
Putin's New Year's greetings to Obama were quoted by the Kremlin as, "relations between Russia and the United States are crucial to ensuring global security."
