"The fact that the US has decided to withdraw its troops is right," Putin said during his annual press conference.

Trump on Wednesday declared in a video message that "we won" and said that the troops are "coming back now."

Putin said that "as concerns victory over IS, on the whole I agree with the US president," adding that "we have dealt serious blows against IS in Syria."

Nevertheless he cast doubt on Washington's actions, saying "we don't see any signs of withdrawing US troops yet, but I concede that it is possible."