President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election and said he would do everything he could to repair ties between the two countries after their most serious standoff since the Cold War.

“Russia is ready and wants to restore full-scale relations with the U.S.,” Putin said at a Kremlin ceremony Wednesday to accept new ambassadors’ credentials. “We understand it will be a difficult path, but we are ready to play our part.”

The Russian leader praised Trump as a “colorful” personality during the election campaign and welcomed his pledge to improve the relationship with Moscow. Trump has said he’s willing to work with Putin on fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. He also said he’d consider recognizing Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea as well as lifting sanctions that the U.S. imposed along with the European Union over the land grab and Russia’s clandestine military intervention in eastern Ukraine. European leaders, especially in the former-Soviet Baltic states, have been alarmed since Trump said he’d only honor the U.S. commitment to defend fellow NATO countries if the alliance’s members have paid their dues.

Trump’s defeated Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, had accused the Republican of being a Kremlin “puppet” after U.S. authorities accused Russia of hacking into Democratic National Convention e-mails to influence the outcome of the vote. Putin and Clinton have clashed in the past, with the Russian leader blaming her for inciting the biggest protests of his rule when she criticized 2011 parliamentary elections as secretary of state.

Putin sent Trump a telegram Wednesday in which he expressed “hope for joint efforts to bring Russian-American ties out of crisis, resolve key international questions and find an effective response to the challenges of global security,” the Kremlin said in an e-mailed statement.