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President Vladimir Putin, unlike his Western European counterparts who were quick to post congratulatory messages on Saturday, had not spoken publicly until Sunday night on the election of the new US President Joe Biden. Instead, four years ago, the Kremlin was sending a message to President Trump a few hours after US press projections showed that he was the winner against Hillary Clinton, comments The New York Times.
“I want to congratulate the American people at the end of this election period and Donald Trump on his victory. Russia is ready and wants to fully restore relations with the United States,” the Kremlin reported on November 9, 2016.
Now there is silence in the Kremlin. “Putin is a good soldier and he does not fight enemies,” said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin analyst.
Early signs point to Putin preparing for a deeply antagonistic relationship with the next US president. Although Donald Trump has never hoped for a rapprochement between Washington and Moscow, his foreign policy, which has always put the United States first, has been in line with the Kremlin’s desire to weaken the Western alliance and increase Russian influence in the world. NOW.
But when it comes to Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin has enough cause for concern. The president-elect sees Russia as one of the biggest security threats, promises to restore weak ties with European allies, and, as vice president of the Obama administration, has supported pro-Western politicians in Ukraine (no, and brought his shield missile weapons from NATO to Romania).
Leonid Slutsky, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, told reporters that “Biden is unlikely to make positive changes to Washington’s policy toward Russia,” especially since he was personally involved in imposing sanctions on Russia. when he was vice president.
And if the Kremlin was silent on Sunday, Vladimir Putin’s most vehement opponent, Alexei Navalny, brought him before the Russian president and sent good wishes on Twitter to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, congratulating the Americans. that they had a “free and fair election,” an indirect allusion to Putin’s opposite reality in Russia.
Why is Erdogan silent?
On the other hand, if in the case of Latin American leaders, such as the presidents of Brazil, Jair bolsonaroand Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the reluctance to congratulate Joe Biden is explainable, since they are very close to Donald Trump, questioning the attitude of the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had a winding relationship with the White House tenant, with ups and downs. Erdogan has not said a word so far about choosing Joe Biden.
Instead, Ankara’s Foreign Ministry congratulated the winner of Guinea’s presidential election on Sunday, but did not mention voting in the United States, NBC News notes.
Turkey will likely have more to lose than other countries since Joe Biden’s victory. The president-elect will likely raise his voice regarding Ankara’s foreign military interventions, and will not like the close cooperation he has with Russia, especially in the military.
Another important reason for the divergence is Washington’s refusal to extradite the Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen, not a public enemy. 1 of Erdogan, accused of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt.
It should be noted, however, that Turkey and the United States are members of NATO and any animosity between them is directly in the interest of having good cooperation in the end.
China didn’t say anything either
Not the president of China, Xi Jinping, said nothing about Joe Biden’s victory, even though he had a strained relationship with Donald Trump.
Before the US elections, China said it was not involved in the internal affairs of other countries.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have deteriorated significantly on several fronts: trade, technology, the coronavirus pandemic, human rights, and China’s growing international assertion. And if Trump’s rhetoric toward China has been increasingly incisive in the past year, from time to time Joe Biden went even further, calling Xi a “thief.”
However, ordinary Chinese say they are relieved that Biden has won and hope for peace.
Iran prefers to wait
The Guardian also takes note of the attitude of Iran, which suffers from the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration. Tehran rejoices in its defeat and says that the United States should now pay for the mistakes made by its leader.
The country’s President Hassan Rouhani, who will also end his term next summer, said he is waiting to see what Biden does before deciding if there is a difference between him and Trump.
On Sunday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamena ridiculed the US elections, saying they were an example of the “ugly face of liberal democracy” showing the “moral, civil and political decline of the American regime.”
Nor did any public comment come from the royal court. Saudi Arabia, a country that relies heavily on the United States to ensure its defense. The left wing of the Democratic Party would like the US to withdraw its support for Saudi Arabia in the Yemen war.
Regarding the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of Donald Trump, congratulated Joe Biden, but without naming him president-elect, remarks The Guardian.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
