Washington, Apr 19 (PTI) US President Donald Trump today said that nobody had been tougher on Russia than him and that he'd slap new sanctions on Moscow "as soon as they very much deserve it".

The mainstream media had failed to take notice of his actions against Russia, he said.

"Yes. We'll do sanctions as soon as they very much deserve it. There's been nobody tougher on Russia than President Donald Trump," Trump told reporters at a joint Mar-a-Lago news conference with the visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"There has been nobody tougher than me. With the media, no matter what I did, its never tough enough because that's their narrative. But Russia will tell you there has been nobody tougher than Donald Trump," he said.

Trump was responding to a question on the remarks by the US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, that US will impose sanctions on Russia on Monday. The White House later denied the claim.

However, said Trump, building a good relationship with Russia is a "good, not bad" thing.

"I leave it with this, with all of that said, if we can get along with China and if we can get along with Russia and if we can get along with Japan and other nations that's a good thing, not a bad thing," the US president said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)