U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has expressed a desire to hold a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future.

Trump made the comment in an interview published by The Wall Street Journal on November 12.

Trump said he had received an “excellent” letter from Putin, referring to a congratulatory telegram the Russian leader sent on November 9 expressing a desire to work “to return Russian-American relations to a stable path of development.”

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the U.S. television network CNN on November 11 that both Putin and Trump are “very pragmatic.”

“At the same time, they both expressed readiness to develop good relationships with other countries,” Peskov said. “This is a very good, very positive coincidence.”

Based on reporting by The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and TASS