Biden accused Russia of election manipulation and Putin “supports” Kamala Harris

Vladimir Putin made a surprise endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump in the November 5 presidential election. His pro-Harris comments came on Thursday, September 5, at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, shortly after the Biden administration accused Russia of meddling in the presidential election.

On September 4, Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the Russian government as a “covert campaign to interfere and influence the outcome of the election in our country.”

Yet the next day, Putin claimed that President Joe Biden was the country's “favorite” even though he was seeking re-election. With Biden leaving office in July and the baton now passed to Harris, Russia is all for supporting the new Democratic presidential candidate.

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Russia declares new presidential candidate as “favorite”

“I told you that our favorite, if you can call him that, is the current President Biden. He was taken out of the race, but he recommended to all his supporters to support Mrs. Harris. So we will do the same. We will support her,” the Russian president said on Thursday.

Ultimately, he acknowledged that the power to choose his “favorites” lies with the American people and stressed that Russia “will respect that choice.”

Putin continued to comment on the Harris vs. Trump front, saying that the Republican presidential candidate had “imposed a greater number of restrictions and sanctions against Russia than any president before.”

“If Ms. Harris is well, she may refrain from such actions.”

Although Trump is constantly praised in Putin's diary, he previously suggested that Biden was “more experienced and predictable.”

In July, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov painted a different picture of Russian support for Harris: “At present, we cannot assess the possible candidacy of Ms. Harris from the perspective of our bilateral relations, since her contribution to our bilateral relations has not been noticed so far.”

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“There have been statements full of rhetoric that was quite unfriendly to our country, but their actions regarding bilateral relations have neither a plus nor a minus sign.”

Exchange of blows between the USA and Russia in the current election campaign

Putin has continued to voice his opinion on the 2024 presidential election. The US, however, is not necessarily taking these tips as palatable. National Security Agency spokesman John Kirby previously said the Russian president should “just stay out of our elections.”

Key findings from Wednesday's Justice Department Task Force on Election Threats also underscored that the United States is not a big fan of Russia's ongoing influence campaign, which involves allegedly setting up fake news websites to spread Russian propaganda.

“The American people have a right to know when a foreign power seeks to exploit the free exchange of ideas in our country to spread its own propaganda,” Merrick Garland said Wednesday.

During the meeting, prosecutors unsealed a 71-page affidavit in federal district court in New York charging two Russia-based employees of a state-controlled media outlet with conspiring to launder money and violating the Federal Agents Registration Act, according to CBS News.