Russian President Vladimir Putin has explained his refusal to congratulate the United States’ President-elect Joseph Biden on the fact that the outcome of the Nov. 3, 2020, election has not yet been officially certified and President Donald Trump has not conceded defeat. A full month after the US elections, the press in Moscow continues to formulaically call Biden the “self-proclaimed victor.” Ongoing attempts by the Trump campaign to contest the Nov. 3 results receive prompt coverage in Russia. The official line, as articulated by Putin, is that Moscow is ready to “work and cooperate with any leader the American people may elect”; but the Kremlin’s overall disappointment at Trump’s defeat is palpable. Putin has publicly decreed the US Electoral College system of choosing presidents profoundly “undemocratic,” adding, “This system of US elections does not give anyone the right to point fingers and censure other nation’s electoral mishaps”. Decreeing the Electoral College “undemocratic” was a frequent element of Soviet propaganda during the Cold War; so repeating this charge today is hardly a novelty for the Kremlin. At the same time, it inadvertently ideologically aligns Putin with the other side of the US political spectrum from Trump – a faction where the Russian leader will hardly feel comfortable or find many friends.
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Pavel Felgenhauer: Kremlin bracing for how Biden may affect bilateral relations
Then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) and US Vice President Joe Biden (2nd R) meet on March 10, 2011 with their delegations in Moscow.
