US elections: Russian officials defend Putin’s delay in congratulating Biden

Xi Jinping from China did. Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Turkey did. Leaders from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific also congratulated President-elect Joe Biden.

But even as Washington moves forward with the delayed presidential transition, Russian President Vladimir Putin has held back on good wishes for Biden.

Russia’s resistance diplomacy is becoming so uncomfortable that it risks being construed as a direct message that Putin is on the side of outgoing President Donald Trump and his unsubstantiated claims that the elections were rigged and apparent attempts to delegitimize the president. elect.

Russian officials, including Putin, have also received some scathing messages about the legitimacy of the US elections in recent days, citing what they called a “showdown,” after the chaotic period triggered by Trump’s refusal to admit defeat.

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But Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, insisted on Thursday that no one should draw conclusions that Russia did not congratulate Biden.

In his daily phone call with journalists, Peskov was asked if the West might see the delay as a sign that the Kremlin did not recognize Biden’s victory.

“This is an absolutely wrong interpretation,” Peskov said.

“The Russian president will congratulate the president-elect of the United States in due course, after the election results have been summarized. The results of the elections have not yet been summarized ”.

Putin has called the delay “absolutely normal.” Not everyone sees it that way.

Putin has yet to congratulate Biden, the only major world leader who has not. Keep it stylish, Vladimir, ”Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Moscow, tweeted on Saturday.

“Fortunately, no one in Biden’s orbit really cares,” McFaul added Tuesday.

“But Putin’s association with Sidney Powell and Rudy as the rest of the world progresses is not a good idea,” he tweeted, referring to Trump’s legal team on the electoral challenges led by Rudy Giuliani. (Powell has been removed from the team.)

The Kremlin dragging its feet comes with several Russian officials predicting that relations would remain frozen, warning that Biden’s team would likely seek a tougher approach towards Moscow.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged the result on November 13 and congratulated Biden.

President Xi Jinping then called Biden on Wednesday and left him a congratulatory message, formalizing China’s recognition of the president-elect.

Xi’s move came after the head of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, finally put the presidential transition in motion on Monday, and Trump accepted the transition while still insisting that he won. He continues to hammer his claims of widespread voter fraud, without proof.

Trump’s legal team has lost a number of lawsuits, yet polls indicate that he has convinced many Republicans that the election was tainted.

It is a message expanded by Russian officials from Putin down. The Russian leader said on Russian state television on Sunday that it is up to the Americans to determine the legitimacy of the vote.

“It is primarily for the Americans to decide whether the authorities are legitimate or not,” Putin said when asked if the choice was legitimate.

Referring to Biden as “the presidential candidate,” Putin said in the November 22 interview that the fact that he had not yet congratulated him could not ruin Moscow’s relations with Washington because they were already ruined.

He said that the delay is due to “internal political confrontation” in the United States and “not because we like or dislike someone.”

“We will work with anyone we trust in the American people. But who in particular receives this trust must be indicated, either through political custom on one side granting victory to the other, or the final results of the elections must be legitimately and legally disclosed.

“This is absolutely normal. There is nothing wrong with that, ”Putin said.

“The message between the lines from Putin is clear,” tweeted Andrew S. Weiss, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, that Biden “has a legitimacy problem.”

Putin has also fired at the American political system, citing the fact that the president-elect did not win the popular vote at times.

“Is it democratic? In my opinion, the question is obvious, ”he said.

“Well, I say this so as not to stigmatize the political or electoral system of the United States,” he said.

The GSA’s move to recognize Biden as president-elect to allow the transition to move forward “was not enough,” spokesman Peskov said Tuesday.

“The president-elect must be named, the incumbent president must acknowledge the election results, and all legal actions must be completed,” Peskov said.

Russia has a history of using social media, including during the 2020 elections, to sow disinformation in the United States, fuel Trump, and intensify doubts and divisions.

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Council of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Kosachev, predicted on Tuesday that Biden’s foreign policy team would take a tough stance against Russia.

But he said that at least the new team of diplomats would be professional and therefore easier to deal with.

“I know from my own diplomatic experience that it would be easier for us to work with professional diplomats,” he told reporters, “even if they don’t favor us that much overall.”