MOSCOW (Reuters) – After U.S. President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid, the Kremlin said that for Russia the most important thing was achieving its goals in the Ukraine war not U.S. politics where Moscow said much could change over coming months.
Biden abandoned his reelection bid on Sunday under growing pressure from his fellow Democrats and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s candidate to face Republican Donald Trump in the November election.
“The elections are still four months away, and that is a long period of time in which a lot can change,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the SHOT news outlet.
“We need to be patient and carefully monitor what happens. The priority for us is the special military operation,” Peskov said, using the euphemism for the Ukraine war that President Vladimir Putin prefers.
Putin had said several times said that he felt Biden was preferable as the future U.S. president to Trump for Russia, even after Biden cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB” though some of his remarks have been ambiguous.
Russian state television led news bulletins with the news of Biden leaving the election race and Biden’s support for Harris, though it said it was unclear if Harris would earn the Democratic nomination.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on the Telegram messaging app that he wished Biden good health and added that the goals of the special military operation would be achieved.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
