Vladimir Putin has criticised the US Democratic Party, saying it needs to learn how to lose gracefully and should stop blaming external factors for Donald Trump's election win.

In his annual end-of-year news conference, the Russian president praised Mr Trump for correctly assessing the mood of US voters and said he hoped for business-like "constructive" relations with the US president-elect.

The US has accused Russia of meddling in the election, but Mr Putin said it was immaterial who had hacked the US Democratic Party's emails and attention should be focused instead on what the hacking revealed.

In what is typically a wide-ranging speech, the Russian leader addressed Aleppo and spoke about the doping allegations levelled against Russian athletes, as well as commenting on his country's economy.

Mr Putin holds an end-of-year news conference each year Credit: Reuters

The Russian president said a statements by the president-elect about boosting the US nuclear arsenal were unsurprising, and said the Russia was not taking part in an arms race.

"If anyone is unleashing an arms race it's not us ... We will never spend resources on an arms race that we can't afford."

Mr Trump appeared again to call for the US to boost its nuclear arsenal in a Tweet on Thursday.

Speaking about Aleppo, Mr Putin said the evacuation of the city would not have been possible without Turkey, Russia and the "good will" Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.

The next step in Syria, he said, "should be a cease-fire on the entire territory of Syria and the launch of talks on a political settlement".

Mr Putin's annual address is typically wide-ranging Credit: Reuters

The assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey had been an attempt to damage relations between the two countries, he said, adding that ties between the two had not been harmed.

Andrei Karlov was shot dead by an off-duty Turkish policeman as he gave a speech at an art gallery in Ankara on Monday.

On doping, Mr Putin admitted there were problems with doping in sport in Russia but said there was never a state-supported system in place as critics have alleged.

On Ukraine, Mr Putin said he hoped relations with Kiev would improve "one day", and said he supported an EU decision to allow Ukrainians to visit the bloc without a visa.