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Putin Says Russia Backs Kamala Harris in US Election

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 5, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 5, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
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Putin Says Russia Backs Kamala Harris in US Election

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 5, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 5, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

Russia wants Kamala Harris to win the US presidential election, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in an apparently ironic comment, citing her "infectious" laugh as a reason to prefer her over Donald Trump.
Putin was speaking a day after the US Justice Department charged two Russian media executives over an alleged illegal scheme to influence the November election with pro-Russian propaganda.
The Kremlin leader had said earlier this year, before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race - also with apparent irony - that he preferred him over Trump because Biden was a more predictable "old school" politician.
Asked how he viewed the election now, Putin told an economic forum in Russia's far east that it was the choice of the American people.
But he then added that as Biden had recommended his supporters to back Harris, "we will do the same, we will support her,” Reuters reported.
"She laughs so expressively and infectiously that it means that everything is fine with her," Putin said, adding that maybe this meant she would refrain from further sanctions against Russia.
US intelligence agencies believe Russia wants Trump to win because he is less committed to supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia.
But Putin said Trump, as president, had introduced more sanctions against Russia than anyone in the White House before him.

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Kremlin Says Threat from the West Forces Change to Nuclear Doctrine 

A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
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Kremlin Says Threat from the West Forces Change to Nuclear Doctrine 

A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia was adjusting its nuclear doctrine because the United States and its Western allies were threatening Russia by escalating the war in Ukraine and riding roughshod over Moscow's legitimate security interests.

Russia, the world's biggest nuclear power, is making changes to its nuclear doctrine - which sets out the circumstances under which Moscow would use such weapons - due to the West's increasing support for Ukraine which Russia invaded in 2022.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in Moscow's most detailed explanation to date, linked the move directly to the "threats" created by the West and blamed the United States for destroying the post-Cold War security architecture of Europe.

The West, Peskov said, had rejected dialogue with Russia and taken a line of attack against its security interests while stoking "the hot war in Ukraine."

"It is the United States that is the ringmaster of the process of provoking tension," Peskov said.

Peskov indicated that revision of the nuclear doctrine was at an early stage, saying that the current tensions would be analyzed carefully and then form the basis of proposed changes.

Russia's current published nuclear doctrine, set out in a 2020 decree by President Vladimir Putin, says Russia may use nuclear weapons in case of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.

Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88% of the world's nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Both are modernizing their nuclear arsenals while China is rapidly boosting its nuclear arsenal.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, with both sides saying they cannot afford to lose the conflict.

UKRAINE WAR

As Russia, which now controls 18% of Ukraine, advances, Kyiv has repeatedly asked for more Western weapons and permission to use Western-supplied long-range weapons in its attacks far into the Russian territory.

The US is close to an agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia, but Kyiv would need to wait several months as the US works through technical issues ahead of any shipment, US officials said.

Sending Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) to Ukraine could significantly alter the strategic landscape of the war by putting more of Russia in range of powerful, precision-guided munitions, an important concern of the Biden administration, the officials said.

Peskov said it was obvious that Ukraine would move to striking targets deep in Russia with Western weapons.

Russia's foreign ministry said if Russia was struck with long-range weapons, the response would be immediate and "extremely painful".

"They are losing their sense of reality, they absolutely do not think about the risks of further dangerous escalation of the conflict, even in the context of their own interests," Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said.

"We would like to warn such irresponsible politicians in the EU, NATO, and overseas - in case of appropriate aggressive steps by the Kyiv regime, Russia's response will follow immediately."