For years, the Kremlin has painted Western democracy as dangerously chaotic in comparison with what it says is the protection and stability provide
For years, the Kremlin has painted Western democracy as dangerously chaotic in comparison with what it says is the protection and stability provided by President Vladimir V. Putin. Because of President Trump’s unfounded allegations that Democrats stole final week’s presidential election, the Kremlin now has a contemporary probability to say vindication.
On Monday, a spokesman for Mr. Putin mentioned Russia won’t acknowledge Joseph R. Biden Jr. as president-elect till Mr. Trump’s courtroom challenges to the election outcomes run their course.
“We consider it could be correct to attend for an official announcement” of the election outcomes, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, informed reporters. “There are particular authorized procedures pending that have been introduced by the present president.”
Mr. Peskov sought to sofa the delay as a technical matter of diplomatic protocol, and pledged that Mr. Putin can be able to work with “any elected president of the US.” However after a weekend throughout which leaders around the globe congratulated Mr. Biden on his electoral victory — even shut allies of Mr. Trump like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel — it was clear that the Kremlin was leaping at a chance to criticize the US somewhat than to attempt to enhance ties.
In unison, Russian officers and state-controlled media echoed Mr. Trump’s depiction of the election as riddled with widespread fraud. On the flagship weekly information program on state tv on Sunday evening, the host, Dmitri Kiselyov, mentioned the election confirmed the US to be “not a rustic however an enormous, chaotic communal house, with a prison aptitude.” And on a political discuss present, Oleg Morozov, a lawmaker, mentioned American democracy had deteriorated to the purpose that “one can manipulate it, tune it and tamper with it to realize sure outcome.”
In Russia, elections are tightly scripted, with challengers to the ruling occasion successful in very uncommon instances and standard opposition politicians usually unable to get on the poll. However on Monday, Ella A. Pamfilova, the top of Russia’s Central Election Fee, additionally sounded off on the prevalence of the Russian governance. She mentioned she had studied mail-in voting and determined towards utilizing in Russia as a result of it made it too straightforward to cheat.
“This anachronism in its American model opens up boundless prospects for potential fraud,” she informed Tass, a state-run Russian information company, of voting by mail. “It seems I used to be proper — what’s occurring now in the US is the very best illustration of that.”