Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian television to appeal to Donald Trump not to start World War III and congratulated him on his win, hours before Donald Trump’s Inaugural address as the 47th President of the United States.

“We hear [Trump’s] statements on the need to prevent World War III. We undoubtedly welcome such a disposition and congratulate the elected US president,” Putin said in a televised session of Russia‘s Security Council.

He emphasized the potential of rebuilding relations with the US following Trump and his team talking about re-establishing communication as Moscow continues to wage a war in Ukraine. 

Putin said that he has heard Trump and his team’s “statements on their wish to restore direct contacts with Russia, which the outgoing [Biden] administration had cut off through no fault of our own.”

He said that Moscow “never turned down this dialogue” and highlighted that US-Russia relations should be based on “equality and mutual respect.”

Putin has previously issued a chilling threat to the West after former President Joe Biden authorized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to use US-made ATACMS missiles to strike deeper into Russia to counter Moscow’s relentless three-year-long war in Ukraine.

Putin’s comments show a sharp change in the Kremlin’s stance back in November when they refused to congratulate Trump on his victory, stating the US being “unfriendly” to Russia as the reason.

On his presidential campaign trail, Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine.

Recently, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, too, emphasized Russia‘s interest in conversing with the US about the war in Ukraine.

“No special conditions are needed for this. What is required is the mutual intent and political will to have a dialogue,” Peskov said.

Fear continues to mount in Ukraine with an increasing threat of Trump cutting off US aid to Ukraine.

Trump, whose Inauguration theme is “strength, unity, and fairness,” is the second US President in history to win a non-consecutive second term after Grover Cleveland in 1892.

Trump’s inauguration will take place indoors due to the dangerously frigid temperatures in Washington D.C. It is projected to be the coldest Inauguration Day since 1985 when former President Ronald Reagan, too, was sworn in inside the Capitol Rotunda.

Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, like Reagan’s, will be televised.

Around 800 people are expected to be in the Capitol Rotunda for Trump’s Inauguration, with 1,300 folks in Emancipation Hall and 500 more in the theater in the Capitol Visitor’s Center, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies said.