The Russian foreign minister has weighed in on the US presidential contest
Moscow will welcome any US president willing to talk in good faith, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
Lavrov is visiting New York, where he presided over the UN Security Council. Answering reporters’ questions on Wednesday, the Russian diplomat touched on the latest developments in the American presidential race.
“[President Vladimir] Putin has spoken about this more than once: we will work with any American leader, we will be ready to work with any American leader who is elected by the American people and who is ready for an equal, mutually respectful dialogue,” Lavrov said.
He reminded reporters that “despite very serious sanctions,” Moscow and Washington continued to talk during Donald Trump’s presidency, suggesting this might be possible again.
Trump officially lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, whose administration began sending weapons to Ukraine and rejected Russia’s security proposal out of hand. Under Biden, the US imposed “sanctions from hell” on Moscow and funneled tens of billions of dollars in cash, weapons, ammunition and equipment to Kiev.
Biden and Trump now appear to be headed for a rematch on November 5, unless the Democrats somehow manage to remove the incumbent president from their ticket.
In an interview in February, the Russian president actually expressed a preference for Biden, whom he called “an old-school politician” and “more predictable,” from the standpoint of Moscow’s interests.
Trump responded by calling Putin’s de facto endorsement of his rival “a good thing” and “a great compliment.”
“Everyone took my statement about Biden as some kind of joke at his expense,” Putin noted later, adding that the American president’s reaction – to attack and insult the Russian leader – just proved his point.
During last month’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Putin said that US policy is unlikely to change regardless of who wins, but that Russia would be willing to “work with any leader who gets the confidence of the American people.”
Last week, however, Biden said he saw “no good reason” to talk to Putin until the Russian leader is “ready to change his behavior.”
