Russian leaders think neither Trump nor Biden will help improve relations with US: 'It'll be bad or very bad'
Russian politicians and media outlets are reportedly not expecting any chances that the US election's eventual victor would improve relations between Moscow and Washington. Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden is currently ahead of President Donald Trump in the race to the White House, but Russians feel whoever wins would present only obstructions for the Kremlin, Newsweek reported.
Taking to Facebook, Leonid Slutsky, chair of the parliamentary international affairs committee, wrote that an "anti-Russian" agenda was being promulgated in US politics and that no matter who won, "there is no need to expect any changes for the better in Russian-American relations, and that is very unfortunate."
Allegations of Russian meddling in the 2020 US election were "never convincingly proven," Konstantin Kosachev, chair of the upper house Federation Council's foreign affairs committee, wrote on Facebook. According to him, the Senate race will have more of an impact on US-Russia relations. "Let's not forget that in recent years White House policy on Russia did not come from the presidential administration, but from the mood in Congress," Kosachev said, adding that if Congress "realized that Russia is not the source of current US problems... a lot would change."
Vyacheslav Nikonov, a State Duma deputy from the ruling United Russia party, noted on his Facebook page that both Biden and Trump were set to fight to the end "at all costs". However, he wondered what "the American electoral drama" brought to "Russia and the world." "Trump has promised to drain the 'swamp' but it is possible that the 'swamp' will wipe out Trump," he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 5 that he wouldn't comment on the US election because "it's impossible to make comments in the current situation" and that doing so would be "like a red rag to a bull." Nonetheless, he admitted that uncertainty in US elections "could potentially have negative consequences for global affairs."
Meanwhile, several Russian outlets analyzed the significance of the US election with respect to Moscow-Washington ties. A November 3 op-ed in Moskovsky Komsomolets declared that there was no option that would improve the relations, no matter who won. It said "the boat of Russian-US relations" had started sinking under previous administrations and had "hit rock bottom under Trump." However, it acknowledged the possibility of international ties becoming worse, Newsweek reported.
"Joe Biden's victory could mean a deepening and a widening of sanctions and other pressure," the op-ed said. "For Russia, the American presidential campaign is a choice between the bad and the very bad. Whatever happens, our statesmen will not be drinking champagne. Stronger drinks are more appropriate." Another outlet RBC, a Russian business publication, reported that despite Kremlin's willingness to work with whoever wins, there were concerns among lawmakers that a Biden victory would be "bad news." It noted Russian political elite were uncertain "whether Biden's harsh rhetoric against Russia will translate into concrete actions."
Meanwhile, an article on the front page of Kommersant broadly assessed the election saying, "this was not the triumph for Democrat Joe Biden that almost all the opinion polls had predicted." The newspaper added that the "only guaranteed result of the election is that the split in the nation that stunned the nation four years ago would continue to widen," Newsweek reported.