President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a joint press conference on Thursday in Berlin, discussing Donald Trump’s election and stating the importance of being able to “stand up” to Russia. Obama finished his last foreign meeting with the press conference with Merkel, his longtime ally. He remained positive about Trump’s presidency, despite having criticized him during the campaign.

During the press conference, Obama told the media, “My hope is that the president-elect coming in takes a similarly constructive approach, finding areas where we can cooperate with Russia, where our values and interests align,” according to the TIME magazine.

The president later stated, “And I don’t expect that the president-elect will follow exactly our blueprint or our approach, but my hope is that he does not simply take a realpolitik approach and suggest that, you know, if we just cut some deals with Russia, even if it hurts people or even if it violates international norms, or even if it leaves smaller countries vulnerable or creates long-term problems in regions like Syria, that we just do whatever is convenient at the time. And that will be something that I think we’ll learn more about as the president-elect puts his team together.”