Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov clarified Vladmir Putin’s stance on supporting Vice President Harris in the upcoming presidential election, saying the Russian president was joking.
Earlier this month, Putin called Harris’ laugh “infectious,” citing that and her potential to change U.S. sanctions in Russia as reason to support her over former President Trump.
“She laughs so expressively and infectiously that it means that everything is fine with her,” he said Sept. 5 at an event in Vladivostok, Russia.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) predicted the redaction from Russian officials during an interview with CNN Sept. 5, calling Putin’s comments “classic doublespeak.”
This isn’t the first instance Putin has favored the Democratic nominee this race. He said earlier this year he would support President Biden over Trump since he was a more “predictable” candidate.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia on Friday, Lavrov said Putin had a “good sense of humor” and was merely joking. He does not believe Harris will necessarily change sanctions.
“I see no long-term differences in our attitude to the current or previous elections in the United States, because it is ruled by the notorious ‘deep state,'” Lavrov said.
Harris campaign spokesperson Ian Sams went on CNN shortly after Putin’s remarks, rejecting any potential support from the Russian president.
“I think everybody knows who dictators and bullies around the world prefer in this election: they prefer President Trump,” Sams said. “We reject the kind of divisive, dictatorial leadership being offered from people like President Putin. Putin’s invasion into Ukraine was horrible and the VPOTUS has been a leader along with POTUS in rallying the world against it.”
During the presidential debate, Harris said that Putin would have walked all over Trump, taking Kyiv and aiming toward Poland had Trump been in the White House the last four years.
Harris said that Trump would “just give it up, telling him Putin would “eat you for lunch.”
Trump responded at the debate that he would settle the war even before he could become president, blaming the Biden administration for not doing more.
“Everything they said was weak and stupid, they said the wrong things,” he said. “That war should have never started.”
Trump did not specify whether or not he wanted Ukraine to win the war.
