Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared support for Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election against Donald Trump.
Putin made this declaration a day after the U.S. Justice Department charged two Russian media executives over an alleged illegal scheme to influence the November election with pro-Russian propaganda.
Putin often comments on political and social issues in the United States, often with sarcasm.
He said last year that the US political system was “rotten” and that Washington could not lecture other countries about democracy.
“Firstly, (US President Joe) Biden recommended all his supporters support Mrs Harris,” Putin said during a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
“Here, we are going to do that too, we’re going to support her,” he added, with a wry smile.
“She laughs so contagiously that it shows that everything is fine with her,” the Russian leader said.
“(Former US President Donald) Trump has imposed as many sanctions on Russia as any president has ever imposed before, and if Harris is doing well, perhaps she will refrain from such actions.”
In February, Putin backed Biden over Trump, calling the current president more “predictable”. The White House called on Putin to “stay out” of US elections.
Putin’s comments come a day after the United States indicted two employees of the state-run Russian news network RT and slapped sanctions on its top editors. Washington accused them of trying to influence the upcoming US ballot.
Similarly, Putin has declared interest for a peace talk with Ukraine amid the ongoing war.
Putin said he was ready for talks with Ukraine, on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul in 2022.
According to Putin: “Are we ready to negotiate with them? We have never refused to do so, but not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of those documents that were agreed and actually initialled in Istanbul.”
Russia has previously said that Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region made talks impossible. Ukraine and Russia have been at war in the past one year and despite threats of foreign sanctions, Putin had continued with the war.