Vladimir Putin: Nobody thought Donald Trump would win 'except us'

Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed the only country that believed Donald Trump would win the US election was Russia.

Speaking at his annual press conference, Putin claimed there had been no surprises in Russia when Trump defeated his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton.

"Right up to the end, nobody believed he would win — except us," Putin told the media at his annual press conference, AFP reported.

He added Trump had managed to tap into the mood of society to win the election, stating many people in the US shared the same ideals as Russia.

"I don't put it down to me, the fact that a large part of Republican voters support the Russian president," he explained.

"It means that a large part of the American people have the same idea of how the world should be, of our common dangers and problems."

Russia's influence in the US election has been widely discussed since Trump's win, with all US intelligence agencies agreeing Russia was responsible for hacks that targeted Hillary Clinton, and that Putin was personally involved in the attempt to disrupt the election.

However, Trump has not directly addressed these claims, instead suggesting the hack could have come from elsewhere, while his transition team said the furore surrounding the hack was a continuation of people "trying to disrupt" the election result.

The president-elect tweeted about the intelligence agencies' conclusion: "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"