Relations between Moscow and Washington hit a post-Cold War low in 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin, however, has recently sought rapprochement with the US.

In the Independence Day message released by the Kremlin, Putin recalled the history of Russia-US ties, saying that at one time the two countries were able to solve “the most difficult international problems to the benefit of both our nations and all humankind.”

Putin expressed hope that this experience will help the two countries get back to working together.

Elsewhere in Moscow, a youth wing of the ruling United Russia party staged an exhibit to condemn US military involvement in other countries.

The Young Guard activists put up easels with the portraits and quotes of former world leaders the activists claim were toppled by the US, like Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych or Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi