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Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed that he is not prepared to recognize Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election because Donald Trump has not recognized the Democrat’s victory.
Biden was announced president-elect two weeks ago in the election against Trump, who has refused to budge. The president has alleged electoral fraud and has ordered his team to contest votes in key states that cost him reelection.
Putin, who has yet to congratulate Biden on his victory, said on Russian state television on Sunday: “We will work with anyone who has the confidence of the American people.”
“But that confidence can only be given to a candidate whose victory has been recognized by the opposing party, or after the results are legitimately and legally confirmed,” Putin said, according to Bloomberg.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly revealed that he is not ready to recognize Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election.
Putin (pictured with Biden in 2011) said the decision not to congratulate Biden is “a formality” with no ulterior motives. He also said he believes US-Russian relations have been ‘ruined’
Putin said the decision not to congratulate Biden is “a formality” with no ulterior motives.
He also said he believes relations between the United States and Russia have been “ruined.”
When Trump won in 2016, Putin was quick to congratulate him, but Trump’s rival in that election, Hillary Clinton, also conceded the day after the vote.
Just days after the election in favor of Biden was called, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that this election is different.
“Obviously, it can be seen that certain legal procedures are arriving there, which were announced by the incumbent president, therefore, this situation is different, so we consider it correct to wait for the official announcement,” he said.
Peskov suggested that when the time comes, a congratulatory message from Putin would come with all the expected protocol.
“I remind you that Vladimir Putin said more than once that he will respect any choice of the American people and that he will be ready to work with any elected president of the United States,” he said.
For now, Putin’s restraint allows a delay in addressing the tense question of how to improve relations.
When Trump (pictured with Putin in June 2019) won in 2016, Putin was quick to congratulate him, but Trump’s rival in that election, Hillary Clinton, also conceded the day after the vote. Trump has yet to give in
Although Russian politicians widely praised Trump’s 2016 election, hoping he would deliver on his promises to improve ties, his administration disappointed Moscow by enacting sanctions and expelling dozens of Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal in the Kingdom. United. and authorize the sale of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
But Russia is characteristically wary of US Democratic administrations because they tend to be bolder in criticizing Russia on human rights and democracy issues.
Biden, on a trip to Russia in 2011 as vice president, embodied that approach in a speech at Moscow’s Statue University, the country’s most prestigious institution of higher education.
‘Don’t compromise the basic elements of democracy. You don’t need to make that Faustian deal, ” he told the students.
In Russia’s eyes, Biden is also tainted for having been the Obama administration’s point man in Ukraine after the uprising that ousted the country’s president, a friend of the Kremlin, in 2014. Russia maintained that those protests were fomented by states. United.
Russian officials frequently blamed the difficulties in relations between Moscow and Washington during the Trump administration on alleged ‘Russophobia’ inherited from the Obama years. Some politicians hope that could increase with Biden.
‘With the victory of a Democrat, one can expect revenge from all the non-conservative forces around the world. This means more Russophobia in Europe, more deaths in (eastern Ukraine) and many other hot spots around the world, as well as more politically motivated sanctions, if we talk about the direct and simpler consequences, ” said Konstantin Kosachev, President of the foreign affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, whose views generally parallel those of the Kremlin.
“The Biden administration may return to a much more assertive policy in the post-Soviet space, which is always extremely disconcerting for Moscow,” Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia In Global Affairs magazine, told the state news agency Tass.
However, both noted that a Biden administration is likely to be more receptive to international cooperation, especially in arms control, such as the renewal of the New START treaty between Russia and the US, which expires next year.
Kosachev also suggested that Biden’s election would largely eliminate complaints about Russian electoral interference, thus paving the way for arms deals.
“It is not that we believe Washington will recover, but at least one key irritant may go away. Isn’t this a reason for the resumption of negotiations, for example, on arms control? We are definitely ready, ‘he said.
