September 05, (THEWILL) – Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Thursday, declared support for Kamala Harris in November’s US presidential election.
This is coming a day after the United States indicted two employees of state-run Russian news network RT and slapped sanctions on its top editor, Margarita Simonyan and her deputy, Elizaveta Brodskaia.
US officials have repeatedly warned of efforts by foreign powers to meddle in the upcoming US election, accusing Moscow of seeking to influence US ballots dating back to the 2016 contest between Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Putin had said earlier this year, before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, that he preferred him over Trump because Biden was a more predictable “old school” politician.
The Kremlin leader said Biden had recommended his supporters to back Harris, “We will do the same, and we will support her”.
Putin, however, said Trump, as president, had introduced more sanctions against Russia than anyone in the White House before him.
“Firstly, (US President Joe) Biden recommended all his supporters support Mrs Harris. Here, we are going to do that too, we’re going to support her. 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,” Putin said during a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
