Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared support for Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election, opposing Donald Trump.
Putin’s declaration is coming just a day after the U.S. Justice Department accused two Russian media executives of engaging in an illegal scheme to influence the November election through pro-Russian propaganda.
Putin’s commentary on political and social issues in the United States is typically sarcastic.
He stated last year that the US political system was ‘rotten’ and that Washington couldn’t lecture other countries on democracy.
“Firstly, (US President Joe) Biden recommended that all his supporters should support Mrs Harris,” Putin said during a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
“Here, we are going to do that too, we’re going to support her,” he added, with a wry smile.
“She laughs so contagiously that it shows that everything is fine with her,” the Russian leader said.
“(Former US President Donald) Trump has imposed as many sanctions on Russia as any president has ever imposed before, and if Harris is doing well, perhaps she will refrain from such actions.”
In February, Putin supported Biden over Trump, expressing that the current president was more predictable. The White House called on Putin to “stay out” of US elections.
Putin’s statement comes a day after the United States charged two employees of the state-run Russian news network RT and penalized its top editors. Washington accused them of trying to influence the upcoming US ballot.
Putin has also expressed an interest in a peace dialogue with Ukraine amid the ongoing war.
According to Putin: “Are we ready to negotiate with them? We have never refused to do so, but not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of those documents that were agreed and actually initialled in Istanbul.”
Russia has previously stated that Kyiv’s invasion of the Kursk region made negotiations unachievable.
We managed to reach an agreement, that is the whole point. The signature of the head of the Ukrainian delegation who initialled this document testifies to this, which means that the Ukrainian side was generally satisfied with the agreements reached," Putin said.
Ukraine and Russia have been at war in the past one year and despite threats of foreign sanctions, Putin had continued with the war.
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