(Newswire.net — December 15, 2020) —
Russian president Vladimir Putin has congratulated Joseph Biden on Tuesday after the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s victory on the United States Presidential election.
Putin’s congratulation comes six weeks after the election was held and just one day after the confirmation came from the Electoral College. This is a departure from what happened after the 2016 elections, when the Kremlin congratulated newly elected President Donald Trump just hours after the election results were called.
The Russian president wished the US President elect success and said he was assured that Russia and the US can solve many of the world’s problems and challenges.
“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,” read a readout from Kremlin on Tuesday. Putin added “I am ready for cooperation and contacts with you”.
Most dignitaries and world leaders congratulated Biden within days of the election, but Kremlin officials wanted to wait for the results to be officially confirmed before Putin congratulated the new US president elect.
Biden’s victory was confirmed Monday when Electoral members from all 50 states and the District of Columbia declared him the winner of the United States Presidential Election.
Most years the Electoral vote is just a formality, merely confirming what the election results stated weeks before. This year the ceremonial vote was especially significant since the incumbent president Donald Trump has gone to extreme efforts to subvert the election results.
The Electoral College vote seems to be the final nail in Trump’s efforts to cling to the presidency. The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s election lawsuit on Monday, where he attempted to have more than 221.000 voting ballots disqualified. Republicans who were previously reluctant have begun to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
A joint session of the United States congress will count the electoral votes on January 6, which represents the last phase of the US presidential elections.