Putin jokes he prefers Harris over Trump as concerns of election interference grow
Russia would be rooting for US Democratic candidate Kamala Harris over Republican candidate Donald Trump to win the November presidential election for her “infectious laugh,” President Vladimir Putin joked on Thursday (5 September) as worries over Moscow’s US election interference grow.
“First of all, [Joe] Biden recommended all his supporters to support Ms Harris; we previously said Biden was our preferred candidate, [but] now we will do as he said: we will support her,” Putin said during a public session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
“Second, she laughs so expressively and infectiously – that means that she is doing well,” he said in an ironic remark.
“Trump has imposed more sanctions on Russia than any president has imposed before, and if Harris is doing well, then perhaps she will refrain from doing this kind of thing,” Putin said.
However, it was the Biden administration that has implemented a vast part of US sanctions on Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“Ultimately, the choice is up to the American people, and we will respect that choice,” he concluded.
These remarks on the US election race follow similar statements made by Putin earlier this year when he jokingly expressed his preference for incumbent US President Joe Biden over Trump due to Biden’s “old school” political style.
Meanwhile, the US Justice Department charged two Russian media executives of the country’s state broadcaster RT over an alleged scheme to meddle in the November US election by hiring an American media company to produce pro-Russian propaganda.
The charges are seen as part of a sweeping set of actions by the Biden administration to disrupt Russian government-backed efforts to influence the November polls, including sanctions on 10 individuals and entities and the seizure of 32 internet domains.
Moscow has long denied any attempts to influence American politics.
However, deceased Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who founded the Wagner mercenary group, had repeatedly admitted that Kremlin-linked ‘troll farms’ actively interfered in the 2020 US election campaign.
“We have interfered, we are interfering, and we will continue to interfere – carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” Prigozhin reportedly said.
While US authorities have so far refrained from stating which side – Democrats or Republicans – have benefitted from foreign interference, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that according to intelligence analysis, “Russia’s preferences have not changed since the last election,” seeming to indicate that Russia may be pushing for Trump’s win.
[Edited by Martina Monti]
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