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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a letter to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump this month, sought bilateral cooperation and a “new level” of U.S.-Russian relations, according to a copy of the letter released by Trump’s team on Friday.

“I hope that ... we will be able – by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner - to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level,” Putin wrote in the Dec. 15 letter, according to Trump’s transition team.

Trump, in a accompanying statement, said he hoped both countries could “live up to these thoughts” rather than “have to travel an alternative path.”