Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he supported Kamala Harris in the upcoming US presidential election. Putin’s remark is coming a day after Washington accused Moscow of seeking to influence the vote.
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.”
Meanwhile, the United States has charged and sanctioned Russian state media executives and restricted Kremlin-linked broadcasters as it accused Moscow of a widespread campaign to interfere with the presidential election.
The justice, state and treasury departments announced coordinated actions on Wednesday to “aggressively counter” the alleged operations.
Attorney General Merrick Garland accused state broadcaster RT, formerly Russia Today, of paying a Tennessee firm $10m to “create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging”.
