Russian President Vladimir Putin was in a trolling mood this week as he gave his thoughts on the US presidential election, heaping praise on Vice President Kamala Harris by lauding her notorious cackle.
“First of all, Biden recommended all his supporters to support Ms. Harris,” the Kremlin tyrant, 71, said during an appearance at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, per a translation.
“We previously said Biden was our preferred candidate. So now we will do as he said, we will support her,” Putin went on, referencing public remarks he made in February that called the incumbent “a more experienced, predictable person” than Trump.
“Second, she laughs so expressively and infectiously,” Putin said of Harris. “That means that she is doing well. Trump has imposed more sanctions on Russia than any president has imposed before, and if Harris is doing well, then perhaps she will refrain from doing this kind of thing.”
The Harris-Walz campaign dismissed Putin’s “endorsement.”
“I think everybody knows who dictators and bullies around the world prefer in this election. They prefer President Trump,” spokesman Ian Sams told CNN Thursday morning.
Trump joked about Putin’s endorsement during a speech to the Economic Club of New York Thursday, saying: “I don’t know if I’m insulted or he did me a favor” — after noting his administration’s sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 Russian pipeline, which Biden lifted soon after taking office.
Over the weekend, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also suggested that Moscow prefers Harris over Trump on stability grounds.
“We have no candidate. But, of course, the Democrats are more predictable. And what Putin said about Biden’s predictability [in February] applies to almost all Democrats, including Ms. Harris,” Peskov said, per Reuters.
Trump, 78, has repeatedly mocked Harris, 59, on the campaign trail over her jarring chuckle.
Despite accusations from liberal critics that he was too cozy with Russia, Trump slapped some of the most severe US sanctions on Russia in the post-Cold War era prior to the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
He also marshaled lethal military aid to Ukraine, something that former President Barack Obama largely stopped short of doing after the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Biden, 81, has since leveled even more stringent economic penalties on Russia and funneled tens of billions of dollars worth of critical weaponry to Ukraine to aid in its defensive war against its neighbor.
Trump has indicated that he’d work towards a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine if elected and also voiced skepticism about prolonged US aid to Kyiv.
“When you look at all of the death and all of the destruction, even of their culture, because those cities are wiped to the ground,” he told streamer Adin Ross last month. “Outside of Kyiv, most of those cities are wiped down to the ground. And it’s so sad.”
On Wednesday, the Justice Department alleged that Russia engaged in a sprawling campaign to influence domestic US politics, involving a $10 million scheme to parrot propaganda.
Putin held onto his office back in March following an “election” widely deemed illegitimate.
