Russia is watching Election Day in the United States, with President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden battling it out.
Here’s a selection of quotes from Russian politicians and public figures as polls closed across the country and results started to come in early Wednesday:
— Vyacheslav Nikonov, deputy of the lower-house State Duma from the ruling United Russia party
"The election results are the worst for America. Both candidates declared victory, while Trump also [claimed] multiple election irregularities. This election certainly won't have a legitimate outcome. No matter who wins in court, half of Americans won't consider him the legitimate president."
— Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the lower-house State Duma’s International Affairs Committee:
"The show called the 'U.S. presidential election' isn’t over, it continues despite Donald Trump declaring his victory and calling for an end to counting the votes. His rival Democrat Joe Biden, however, also expressed his full confidence that he’ll be the next occupant of the White House.”
"As for Russian-American relations, we can’t expect any changes for the better if any of the candidates win. That’s very unfortunate."
— Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Russia:
"Biden might get a lot of votes, but Donald Trump will still emerge the winner because he’s done more for Americans than any president before him… That’s considering that he faced obstruction from the very first day."
"People are tired of anarchy throughout the country… America is experiencing the same turmoil — pogroms, looting and violence — that we in Russia lived through 400 years ago."
"Every American sees that Biden has certain health issues, it’s not his fault."
— Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the upper-house Federation Council’s Committee on Foreign Affairs:
"[Russia] benefits from any certainty in which the losers won’t need to resort to [claims of] foreign interference. It’s time for America to return to the politics of sanity, in which we will always support it. It is high time."
"The subject of some kind of Russian interference, never convincingly proven but enough to permanently attack [Trump], has remained center stage in American realities since the 2016 election… However, it seems that the foreign factor may not play the same role [in 2020] as the last time."
"This means that any winner or loser in the presidential race will be forced to talk about purely domestic reasons for the outcome of the election, and that’s a completely different story that’s much closer to reality."
— Gennady Zyuganov, Communist Party leader:
"America is more divided than ever… The situation is extremely fraught and the conflict will build up in my opinion, while I’m afraid anarchy will take hold in some cities, as we’ve seen."
"I think that Biden, seeing that he is losing, might call for mass unrest. The situation is heating up.”
“Between the two, Biden will be even more aggressive [than Trump toward Russia]."
— Sergei Mironov, A Just Russia opposition party leader:
"It’s a split and I sadly think it won’t settle down for quite a while."
"Unlike our Foreign Ministry, I’m more free to pick my words. In plain Russian, one [candidate] is as bad as the other. Whether Trump or Biden wins, they’re sadly pursuing their narrow national interests… it doesn’t bode well for Russia."
“We’re seeing something astonishing: looks like the boomerang of so-called color revolutions that the U.S. has launched [in post-Soviet countries] is returning home. I believe that, after the presidential election results are declared, someone might want to use these homespun techniques of color revolutions at home in the U.S.”
— Alexei Navalny, opposition leader:
"Woke up to check who won on Twitter. Still unclear. Now that’s what I call elections."
— Stanislav Natanzon, Rossia 24 state broadcaster news anchor:
"Biden is ahead for now, but he has practically no chance."
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