Putin joins Team Biden

Who does Vladimir Putin want to win the presidential election this fall? Last night, the Russian president gave an unexpected answer.

In an interview on the Russian state TV channel VGTRK, Putin was asked “Who is better for us, Biden or Trump?” The smirk on journalist Pavel Zarubin’s face suggested he thought the question would be a slam dunk. And yet, to Zarubin’s visible surprise, Putin threw him a curve ball: Putin would, in fact, prefer Joe Biden.

The enigmatic Russian president is a showman and he likes to stir the pot

Following a few moments of somewhat intense eye contact, Putin elaborated: “He is a more experienced person, he is predictable, he is an old-school politician.” He then added, “But we will work with any US leader who the American people decide to trust.”

Putin’s compliments didn’t stop there. Recounting the last time he and Biden met in person in Geneva in June 2021, Putin said, “Even then they said that he was incompetent. I didn’t see anything like it.” Referring to a number of embarrassing incidents in recent months that have made some question Biden’s faculties, he added, “the fact that getting out of a helicopter, he somehow hit his head, well… who of us hasn’t banged their head on something? I’m not a doctor — I don’t consider it appropriate to pass comment on such things.”

Putin’s seeming endorsement of Biden is certainly surprising. Throughout his presidency Trump faced accusations of being too sympathetic towards the Kremlin. Just last weekend, the former president said he’d effectively encourage Russia to go after any nation not sufficiently contributing to NATO’s defenses. Ukraine’s allies fear that if elected Trump will give Putin an easier time when it comes to the war. So it would be easy to assume that Trump would therefore be the Russian president’s preferred candidate. 

So what’s going on? Has the spitting rage Putin usually shows when talking about the US been replaced by reason and civility? Despite appearances, that may not be the case.

For starters, Putin did reserve some ire for Biden, calling America’s Russia policy “highly harmful and mistaken” before adding that “it is inappropriate for us to interfere in this [election] process.” This is ironic given the assessment by American intelligence that Russia interfered in the 2016 race between Trump and Hillary Clinton. There are concerns in some quarters that Kremlin-backed trolls may attempt the same again this time round.

And while it can’t be ruled out that Putin does fancy his chances with Biden rather than his predecessor, the enigmatic Russian president is a showman and he likes to stir the pot. He will enjoy the fact that his comments have made today’s front pages around the world. And he will almost certainly enjoy any added animosity it stirs up between the Biden and Trump campaigns. Putin’s distrust of the US and the wider West has prompted him to take whatever opportunities he can to sow chaos beyond his borders. Last night, he planted another seed.

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.