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President-elect Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have vowed to tackle ISIS together after holding breakthrough talks on the telephone.

Less than a week after the billionaire’s election, the Kremlin said Putin called Trump yesterday to begin negotiations over how best to tackle to terrorism.

The Russian is reported to have said he is ready for dialogue with the US “on the basis of mutual respect, non-intervention into each other’s internal affairs”.

According to the news agency Kremlin, Putin and Trump have agreed to “work to channel bilateral relationships into constructive cooperation, to combine efforts to tackle international terrorism and extremism, and to continue contact by telephone and to work towards meeting in person”.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

"The importance of creating a solid basis for bilateral ties was underscored, in particularly by developing the trade-economic component," the Kremlin said in its statement.

It added that the countries should "return to pragmatic, mutually beneficial cooperation, which would address the interests of both countries as well as stability and safety the world over."

The two men will maintain contact by phone and seek to meet each other in person, the statement said.

The call is a marked shift in relations between the two countries who have been at loggerheads under the Obama administration.

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Trump will take office on January 20, replacing Obama, whose relations with Putin have become tense over various issues including Syria and Ukraine.

The thawing of tensions could have implications for American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been in exile in Moscow since stealing US spy details and publishing them online.

In a statement, Trump's office said: "President-elect Trump noted to President Putin that he is very much looking forward to having a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia."

It added that Putin called the billionaire to offer his congratulations on his election.

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It comes as top ISIS commander Abu Omar Khorasani has said Trump is a "complete maniac" who will aid the terror group's cause.

Khorasani, based in Afghanistan , said the president-elect's shock victory over Hillary Clinton will help ISIS recruit new fighters, especially youth in the West.

Extremists plan to use Trump's campaign comments about Muslims as a propaganda tool to bolster their ranks in the Middle East or inspire attacks abroad.

At one point during his lengthy presidential campaign, the Republican candidate and business mogul called for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

Khorasani told Reuters: "This guy is a complete maniac. His utter hate towards Muslims will make our job much easier because we can recruit thousands."

Trump has promised to wipe out radical groups like ISIS during his presidency, although he has offered few details on how he plans to accomplish that.

(Image: REUTERS)

Putin and Trump's phone call also comes as U.S. internet companies including Facebook Inc and Amazon Inc have sent the president-elect a detailed list of their policy priorities.

These include promoting strong encryption, immigration reform and maintaining liability protections from content that users share on their platforms.

The letter sent today by the Internet Association, a trade group whose 40 members also include Alphabet's Google, Uber and Twitter, represents an early effort to repair the relationship between the technology sector and Trump, who was almost universally disliked and at times denounced in Silicon Valley during the presidential campaign.

"The internet industry looks forward to engaging in an open and productive dialogue," reads the letter, signed by Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet Association, and seen by Reuters.

(Image: Getty)

Some of the policy goals stated in the letter may align with Trump's priorities, including easing regulation on the sharing economy, lowering taxes on profits made from intellectual property and applying pressure on Europe to not erect too many barriers that restrict U.S. internet companies from growing in that market.

Other goals are likely to clash with the president-elect, who offered numerous broadsides against the tech sector during his campaign.

They include supporting strong encryption in products against efforts by law enforcement agencies to mandate access to data for criminal investigations, upholding recent reforms to U.S. government surveillance programs that ended the bulk collection of call data by the National Security Agency, and maintaining net neutrality rules that require internet service providers to treat web traffic equally.

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