Putin congratulates Joe Biden on his election victory

Russian leader Vladimir Putin finally congratulated Joe Biden on his US election victory today, hours after America’s electoral college rubber-stamped the results. 

Putin was one of the last world leaders who had not acknowledged Biden’s victory, with the Kremlin saying it would wait for the official results of the election. 

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But after Monday’s procedures which confirmed Biden as the winner by 306 votes to 232 in the electoral college, Putin ‘wished the president-elect every success’ and said he was ‘ready for interaction and contact’ with Biden, the Kremlin said. 

Putin also ‘expressed confidence that Russia and the United States, which have a special responsibility for global security and stability, could, despite their differences, really help to solve the many problems and challenges facing the world’.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the U.S. presidential election

Putin had appeared to hedge his bets in the run-up to the election, accusing Biden of ‘sharp anti-Russian rhetoric’  but welcoming his calls for nuclear arms control. 

The Russian leader had also defended Hunter Biden, the president-elect’s son, against criticism from Trump over his business ties in Russia and Ukraine. 

Most world leaders congratulated Biden after he was projected as the winner on November 7, four days after the election, but Putin was conspicuously silent.  

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said it was ‘appropriate to wait for the official vote count’ before congratulating Biden.  

Asked why in 2016 Putin had congratulated Trump almost immediately after the election, Peskov said there was an obvious difference this time round.

‘You can see that there are certain legal procedures that have been announced by the current president. That is why the situations are different and we therefore think it appropriate to wait for an official announcement,’ said Peskov.

Trump has launched a barrage of lawsuits and made a series of unfounded claims of election fraud, but none of these efforts have succeeded in halting the march towards Biden’s inauguration on January 20. 

On Monday, the 538 members of the electoral college who formally choose the president met in their respective states and confirmed Biden as the winner.  

Peskov said Putin had repeatedly indicated he was ready to work with any US president. 

He added that Russia hoped it could establish dialogue with a new US administration and find a way to normalise troubled bilateral relations.

‘President Putin has repeatedly said he will show respect for whatever choice the American people makes,’ Peskov said.

While Biden was vice president under Barack Obama, Moscow’s ties with Washington sank to post-Cold War lows when Russia annexed Crimea.   

Relations soured further over US allegations that Moscow had meddled in the 2016 election to try to tilt the vote in Trump’s favour, something the Kremlin denied.

US intelligence agencies concluded that Russia tried to interfere, but Trump himself cast doubt on the claim and appeared to take Putin’s side, causing outrage at home.  

Trump’s ties to Russia were the subject of the two-year Mueller investigation, which neither accused him of collusion nor cleared him of obstruction of justice.