MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Relations between Russia and the US were substantially strained during Donald Trump’s presidency, but the countries still maintained communication, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"There were many tensions, many points of contention, many points of contradiction during Mr. Trump's presidency, but at least there was a dialogue. This distinguishes him favorably from his predecessors and successors. But otherwise, let's just say there were a lot of points of contention," he said.

Trump was US president from 2017-2021. On Thursday, he gave consent to run for the job again in the November election as a Republican Party candidate.