ANCHORAGE /Alaska/, August 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he maintains good direct contact with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

"Me and President Trump have established good direct contact. We have repeatedly held frank telephone conversations. As you know, Mr. Witkoff, US special presidential envoy, has visited Russia several times," he pointed out a joint news conference with Trump following their Alaska meeting.

According to Putin, in recent years, Russia-US relations fell "to their lowest since the Cold War." "As you know, Russia and the US have not held summits for over four years, which is a long time. That wasn’t an easy period in bilateral relations, which, let’s face it, fell to their lowest since the Cold War, which benefits neither our countries nor the world in general," he noted.

"We clearly had to improve the situation sooner or later, moving from confrontation to dialogue. In this regard, a personal meeting between the two heads of state was long overdue, but it also required careful preparations. This work was generally done. Our aides communicated with each other on a regular basis, as well as the top diplomats," Putin added.