What Does Russian President Putin Understand That American Media Seem To Have Forgotten?

Nov. 22, 2020 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked, again, about why he hasn’t congratulated Joe Biden for “winning” the U.S. Presidential election. This was on the Sunday “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on Rossiya-1 TV channel. TASS reported that Putin explained that “Russia’s authorities are ready to work with any U.S. President-elect but now it’s important to wait until the vote count is completed and ‘the domestic political struggle’ in the United States ends.” Putin affirmed, “We will work with any person who will have confidence of the U.S. people.” As for congratulations, he insisted it “should be either done in line with political tradition when one of the sides acknowledges the victory of the other or when the final outcome of the vote is recognized in a legitimate and legal way,” reported TASS.

Asked if holding back on congratulating Biden would worsen relations with the United States, Putin responded drily: “You can’t spoil a spoiled relationship, it is already spoiled.... We have a respectful relation to everyone: both incumbent President [Donald] Trump and candidate for this post Mr. [Joseph] Biden. Therefore, we don’t have any problems here. There isn’t any hidden agenda or anything that would be unusual or could be a basis for further deterioration of our relations.”

“As for others—those who congratulate [Biden], it’s up to each and everyone, all people are experienced and know what and how they do,” the President said. TASS added that Putin further “recalled that last time everyone had congratulated Hillary Clinton and it turned out that Trump won.”