President Donald Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers when he congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday on his re-election, including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating "DO NOT CONGRATULATE," according to officials familiar with the call.

Mr Trump also chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn Putin about the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom with a powerful nerve agent, a case that both the British and US governments have blamed on Moscow.

The President's conversation with Putin, which Mr Trump called a "very good call," prompted fresh criticism of his muted tone towards one of the United States' biggest geopolitical rivals amid the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russia's election interference and the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian officials.

Although the Trump administration has taken a tougher stance towards Russia recently - including new sanctions last week on some entities for election meddling and cyber attacks - the President has declined to forcefully join London in denouncing Moscow for the poisoning of Sergie Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury this month. They remain critically ill.

Donad Trump says he has congratulated Vladimir Putin for Russia election victory

Mr Trump told reporters that he had offered his well wishes on Putin's new six-year term during a conversation on a range of topics, including arms control and the security situations in Syria and North Korea. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Skripals' case was not discussed. Information on Syria and North Korea were also provided to the president in writing before the call, officials said.

"We'll probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future," Mr Trump said of Mr Putin, though Sanders emphasised that nothing was planned.

The White House press office declined to comment on the briefing materials given to Mr Trump. Two people familiar with the notecards acknowledged that they included instructions not to congratulate Mr Putin. But a senior White House official emphasised that national security adviser H.R. McMaster did not mention the issue during a telephone briefing with the president, who was in the White House residence ahead of and during his conversation with the Russian President.

It was not clear whether Mr Trump read the notes, administration officials said. Mr Trump, who initiated the call, opened it with the congratulations for Mr Putin, one person familiar with the conversation said.

The President's tone drew a rebuke from Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who wrote on Twitter: "An American President does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election."

But Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, appeared less concerned, noting Trump has also offered congratulations to other leaders of more totalitarian states. "I wouldn't read much into it," Mr Corker said.

Mr Putin's latest consolidation of power came in what foreign policy analysts said was a rigged election in which he got 76 percent of the vote against several minor candidates. Some world leaders have hesitated to congratulate Mr Putin, since his re-election occurred in an environment of state control of much of the news media and with his most prominent opponent barred from the ballot.

Ahead of Tuesday's phone call, national security aides provided Mr Trump with several handwritten notecards filled with talking points to guide his conversation, as is customary for calls with foreign leaders, according to the officials with knowledge of the call, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Vladimir Putin dismisses 'nonsense' of Russian involvement in Salisbury poisoning

The notecards are similar to the one Mr Trump was photographed clutching during a White House meeting with students and parents after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, officials said.

Mr Trump's failure to raise Moscow's alleged poisoning of the former Russian spy in Britain risked angering officials in London, who are trying to rally Britain's closest allies to condemn the attack. Russia has denied involvement in the March 4 poisoning, but the attack has badly damaged British-Russian relations and British Prime Minister Theresa May last week announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation.

Mr Putin denied that Russia had any role and called the claim "nonsense."

Asked about McCain's criticism, Ms Sanders noted that the leaders of France and Germany also called Mr Putin this week and pointed to former president Barack Obama, who congratulated Mr Putin on an election victory in 2012.

"We've been very clear in the actions that we've taken that we're going to be tough on Russia, particularly when it comes to areas that we feel where they've stepped out of place," Ms Sanders said. "We've placed tough sanctions on Russia and a number of other things where we have shown exactly what our position is."

She emphasised, however, that Mr Trump is determined to establish a working relationship with Mr Putin to tackle global challenges, including confronting North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

Asked whether the Trump administration believes Russia conducted a "free and fair" election, Ms Sanders said the administration is focused on US elections.

"We don't get to dictate how other countries operate," she said. "What we do know is that Putin has been elected in their country, and that's not something that we can dictate to them how they operate."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also distanced himself on Tuesday from Trump's congratulatory remarks.

"The President can call whomever he chooses," McConnell said at his weekly news conference Tuesday. "When I look at a Russian election, what I see is a lack of credibility in tallying the results. I'm always reminded of the election they used to have in almost every communist country where whoever the dictator was at the moment always got huge percentage of the vote."

Mr Trump has largely refrained from criticising Mr Putin amid the ongoing investigation into the 2016 election meddling by special counsel Robert Mueller, who in February indicted 13 Russian nationals on conspiracy charges. His tone has at times been at odds with his administration, which has taken stronger actions to counter Russian aggression, including Mr Trump's authorisation of new sanctions against Russia and additional support Ukrainian troops in their fight against Russian-backed forces in Crimea.

"It's blatantly obvious that he has just an inexplicable level of support for President Putin," said Julie Smith, a European security expert who served as deputy national security adviser for former vice president Joe Biden. "You keep thinking it will change as he sees his own administration take action - that this never-ending well of support for Putin will some how subside. It's disheartening at a time when our trans-Atlantic partners really need a boost. Europe is looking to us for leadership on Russia in particular and they're not getting it."

Russia election 2018: in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Russia election 2018: in pictures Russia election 2018: in pictures People attend a rally in Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin during the ongoing presidential elections. EPA Russia election 2018: in pictures The members of the local election commission open a ballot box for counting at a polling station during the presidential elections in St. Petersburg. EPA Russia election 2018: in pictures Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak attend a debate at the "Navalny Live" YouTube show in Moscow. Reuters Russia election 2018: in pictures Members of a local election commission count votes during Russia's presidential election in the small town of Krasnyi. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures President Vladimir Putin walks out of a voting booth at a polling station during Russia's presidential election in Moscow. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures An elderly woman casts her ballot at her house during Russia's presidential election in the village of Khrapovo. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures Presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak votes inside a polling booth in Moscow. AP Russia election 2018: in pictures Russian Communist Party presidential candidate Pavel Grudinin votes at a polling station in the Sovkhoz Imeni Lenina, outside Moscow. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures A woman with her dog lines up with Russian military personnel to vote in the presidential election in Moscow. AP Russia election 2018: in pictures A man casts his ballot at a polling station during Russia's presidential election in the small town of Krasnyi. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures Presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky casts a ballot at a polling station in Moscow. Reuters Russia election 2018: in pictures An elderly woman fills her ballot at her house as a member of a mobile Russian election committee visits residents of the village of Sovyaki. EPA Russia election 2018: in pictures A child plays at a polling station during presidential elections in St.Petersburg. AP Russia election 2018: in pictures A man casts his ballot at a polling station inside Kazansky railway terminal. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures Vladimir Putin casts his ballot. Reuters Russia election 2018: in pictures A man casts a ballot, during the presidential election, inside the Russian Embassy in London. Reuters Russia election 2018: in pictures People leave a polling station during the presidential election in Moscow. Reuters Russia election 2018: in pictures Presidential candidate Sergei Baburin, leader of the nationalist People's Union party, votes at a polling station in Moscow. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures Voters look at a poster displaying presidential candidates at a polling station in the ZIL cultural centre in Moscow. AFP/Getty Images Russia election 2018: in pictures An Orthodox Jewish Russian citizen casts his ballot at a polling station for the Russian presidential elections in the Sergei Building at the Russian compound in Jerusalem. EPA Russia election 2018: in pictures Players of the Russian national soccer team, including Vladimir Gabulov and Yuri Zhirkov, visit a polling station during the presidential election at the Novogorsk training centre outside Moscow. Reuters Russia election 2018: in pictures President Vladimir Putin shakes the hand of a polling station staff member during voting. AFP/Getty Images Russia election 2018: in pictures A man votes at a polling station in Moscow. Rex Russia election 2018: in pictures Presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak casts her ballot by scanning it in at a polling station in Moscow. EPA Russia election 2018: in pictures Policemen guarding the General Consulate of Russia in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv watch an Ukrainian activist touching the nose of a dummy embodying Russia's president in a coffin. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures A woman with a dog reads her ballot at a polling station in Moscow. AFP/Getty Russia election 2018: in pictures A man walks out of a voting booth at a polling station in the village of Novye Bateki. AFP/Getty

Thomas Wright, director of the Centre on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, said Mr Trump's actions were "a sign he wants a pro-Russia foreign policy," which conflicts with the harder line from his administration.

"Everyone is trying to figure out what does this mean," Wright said. "Russia hawks say, pay attention to us, but not to the President or to the tweets. But the reality is, his reaction is policy. The fact that there hasn't been a stronger sanctions response to the poisoning so far is policy."

Mr Trump's applause of Mr Putin's victory was in line with other congratulatory calls he has made, including to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for winning a much-disputed referendum that increased his already autocratic powers and to China's President Xi Jinping for his "extraordinary elevation" after Mr Xi last month engineered the Communist Party's elimination of presidential term limits.