Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on winning the 2020 presidential election.
The Russian leader congratulated the next president of the United States on Tuesday, exactly six weeks after Election Day and one day after the Electoral College cast its ballots to make the election results official.
“Vladimir Putin wished the President-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the United States, which bear special responsibility for global security and stability, despite their differences can truly contribute to solving many problems and challenges that the world is currently facing,” a Kremlin readout said.
Putin said “Russian-American cooperation based on the principles of equality and mutual respect would meet the interests of people in both countries as well as the entire international community,” adding, “For my part, I am ready for cooperation and contacts with you.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously said the Russian leader wouldn’t reach out to Biden until “the official results of the elections” were announced.
Peskov explained the reasoning behind Putin’s delayed congratulatory message at the time: “They are facing certain legal procedures that were announced by the incumbent president, which makes this situation different. So we deem it as correct to wait for the official announcement.”
Nearly all of the legal challenges, which have been brought by either the Trump campaign or GOP-adjacent groups, have failed in the court system, including the Supreme Court.
Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes and the popular vote by more than 7 million ballots. President Trump has refused to concede, continuing to claim the election was rigged against him even after the Electoral College cast its votes for Biden.
