LONDON, January 16. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bild and The Times newspapers he wants to reach a nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia in return for easing the West’s sanctions against Moscow.

"They [Western countries] have sanctions on Russia - let's see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that's part of it," Trump said in the interview.

"But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit," he said.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Trump said he intended to keep intact all sanctions and restrictions introduced under the Obama administration against Russia "at least for a period of time."

However, the newly-elected US president hinted that the sanctions could be lifted in the future by saying: "If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?".