Putin’s propaganda machine praises Harris for winning the debate, denigrates the U.S., and advocates using divisiveness in the U.S. society to advance Russia’s agenda.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitriy Peskov denied that the Kremlin had any plans to watch the presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. « No, we are not planning to watch… It’s not our business », he said in response to a question from a Russian journalist.
Apparently, however, the Russian media, which is almost exclusively controlled by the state, and the country’s foreign ministry had different marching orders from Putin. As soon as the highly anticipated event ended in Pennsylvania, the Russian media exploded with detailed reportage and analysis of the Trump-Harris faceoff. Putin’s commentariat largely declared Harris the winner.
« Bad Night for Donald Trump » read the headline of an editorial run by business journal Kommersant, which characterized Harris as « being in her best form. » The authors praised Harris for « taking control of the situation from the very start » by « stepping into the opponent’s territory » when in the beginning of the debate, she came up to Trump, stretched her hand and introduced herself saying, « Hello. I’m Kamala Harris. »
Kommerstant marveled at how « masterfully » Harris attacked and counterattacked, seizing the initiative « from the very first minutes » of the debate, putting Trump on the defensive.
Every major Russian outlet, including the official Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, quoted Harris saying, « Putin will eat you for lunch » and « Putin would already be sitting in Kyiv », when she was portraying Trump for being soft on Russia.
