Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that he „supports” Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, current Vice President of the United States, in the American presidential elections in November.
American President Joe Biden „recommended to his voters to support Mrs. Harris, so we will support her as well,” said the Russian leader on Thursday at the Vladivostok Economic Forum.
"Secondly, she has such an expressive and contagious laugh that shows she behaves well," he added.
The Russian president also appreciated that Donald Trump imposed "more sanctions on Russia than any president" before him.
Kamala Harris "might refrain from doing this kind of thing," he said.
On Wednesday, American authorities took a series of measures - including sanctions and criminal prosecutions of heads of the Russian publication RT - in response to attempts to interfere in the November 2024 elections attributed to Russia.
A spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday that the measures taken against RT are part of an "information campaign (...) which has been prepared for a long time and is necessary as the last phase of the electoral cycle approaches."
She assured that Moscow is preparing, "obviously," a response to these new sanctions that will "make everyone tremble."
American authorities did not specify in favor of which camp - Democrats or Republicans - these alleged interferences were made.
Russia has been accused of conducting influence operations on social media in the 2016 presidential elections in favor of Donald Trump, who won at that time.
American Secretary of Justice, Merrick Garland, only announced that, according to an analysis by intelligence services, "Russia's preferences have not changed from the last elections," seeming to suggest that Moscow still supports Trump.
Prior to Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race for the White House, Vladimir Putin announced that he prefers the current occupant of the Oval Office over Donald Trump.
The former American president is accused by his Democratic critics of being an admirer of Vladimir Putin.