Democratic leaders in the United States have a bank of “common values” with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“First, the Democratic Party is traditionally closer to the so-called liberal values, closer to Social Democratic ideas, if compared to Europe. And it was from the Social Democratic environment that the Communist Party evolved,” Putin said. “In other words, this can be seen as an ideological basis for developing contacts with the Democratic representative.”
Putin offered that perspective after reiterating his denial of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Yet, his comments about the putative affinity between U.S. Democrats and the heirs to the Soviet Union align with President Trump’s denunciation of the rising support for socialism among Democratic Party voters.
“It is a fact that African Americans constitute a stable electorate, one of the electorates of the Democratic Party,” Putin said. “Back in the 1930s, Communist International leaders wrote that both black and white workers had a common enemy — imperialism and capitalism … So, this is something that can be seen, to a degree, as common values, if not a unifying agent for us. I am not afraid to say so. This is true.”
Putin turned to the subject of ideology while suggesting that Russia could cooperate with Joe Biden in the event that the Democratic presidential nominee defeats Trump in November. He aired that view one day after Biden attempted to assure voters in Florida who fled communist-ruled Cuba that they can trust him.
“I’m no more a socialist or communist than Donald Trump is,” Biden said. “There’s not one syllable I have ever said that could lead you to believe I was a socialist or communist.”
CIA officials reportedly assess that the Kremlin chief, a former KGB officer who once described himself as “a specialist in human relations,” is “probably directing Russia’s influence operations” to undermine Biden’s campaign. One of Trump’s top intelligence advisers warned in August that “Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate” Biden, just as they targeted Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 election.
“We do not interfere,” Putin insisted. “Everything that is happening in the United States is the result of the country’s internal political processes and problems.”
