Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited PresidentDonald Trump to visit him in Moscow, he said Friday – and the White House said Trump is ready to host Putin after January.

'President Trump looks forward to having President Putin to Washington after the first of the year, and he is open to visiting Moscow upon receiving a reciprocal formal invitation,' White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Friday.

Putin told reporters in South Africa that phone calls were not sufficient, and the two men needed to talk about the Iran nuclear deal and other topics.

Trump took heat from members of both parties after his July 16 meeting with Putin, where the president said he found Putin's denial of election interference 'powerful.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he has invited President Donald Trump to visit him in Moscow and also says he is ready to go to the White House

The initial statement from Sanders said Trump is open to visiting Moscow after receiving a 'formal invitation.'

But after her statement went out, a White House official asked that it be modified to say Trump was open after receiving a 'reciprocal formal invitation' – language that appears to imply that a formal invitation to visit Washington has been extended, but that the Moscow invite is informal at this point.

'We are ready for such meetings, we are ready to invite President Trump to Moscow. He has this invitation already and I told him about it,' Putin said, according to a translation reported by CNN. But he said there also have to be 'necessary conditions.'

Trump is to meet with his national security team today to discuss election security, following a report of a Russia-based effort to hack Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill's campaign.

Trump gave Trump a World Cup soccer ball at their joint press conference, and Trump lavished praise on Putin and his handling of the event.

The entreaty comes after the White House began pouring cold water on the idea.

Putin made the comments at the at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa

Putin gave Trump a World Cup game ball at their Helsinki summit. They are pictured with First Lady Melania Trump

Putin said the two men would discuss Iran and other issues

Putin said phone calls were insufficient

'The President believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we've agreed that it will be after the first of the year,' said National Security Advisor John Bolton.

He was referring to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Putin's comments come as Trump denied having advanced knowledge of a Trump Tower meeting between his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, and campaign chair Paul Manafort and Russians during the campaign.

Manafort's trial on money laundering and other charges begins next week. Trump weighed in after a report that his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen would testify that he knew in advance about the meeting, which was set up after the offer of Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton.

'NO, I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr.,' Trump said Friday in a series of tweets.

LET'S TRY MY PLACE: Putin said he was ready to go to Washington and also said he has invited Trump to Moscow

'Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary's lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!' Trump said, taking shots at his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation.

Trump suffered political blowback for his summit last week, with influential Republicans calling him out for siding with Putin over the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community on Russian election interference. Putin said at their joint press conference that he wanted Trump to win.

Former CIA Director John Brennan called Trump's performance treasonous, and the White House fired back that it was looking into stripping the security clearances of Brennan and others it said 'monetize' their clearances.

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he never knew in advance about a 2016 meeting between his son, his son-in-law, his campaign chairman and a Kremlin-tied lawyer

Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, is reportedly prepared to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he was in the room when the future president approved of the meeting – which was offered with the promise of opposition dirt on Hillary Clinton

An epic Twitter rant from the president on Friday included claims that Cohen is 'trying to make up stories' to save his own skin, and complaints about Mueller using his tweets as the basis for a claim of obstruction of justice

Putin also said conditions for a visit 'need to be right' in the U.S., Sky News reported.

And he vented about sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Crimea, saying they turned currency 'into a weapon.'