MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he supported Kamala Harris in November’s US presidential election, an apparent wry remark a day after the United States issued indictments accusing Moscow of vote interference. Putin often comments on political and social issues in the United States, often in a mocking way.

He said last year that the US political system was “rotten” and that Washington could not lecture other countries about democracy. US officials have repeatedly warned of efforts by foreign powers to meddle in the upcoming US election, accusing Moscow of seeking to influence US ballots dating back to the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“Firstly, (US President Joe) Biden recommended all his supporters support Mrs Harris,” Putin said during a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Biden withdrew from the race in July amid concerns about his age and health, endorsing Vice President Harris to top the Democratic Party’s ticket. “Here, we are going to do that too, we’re going to support her,” Putin told the audience, with a wry smile. “She laughs so contagiously that it shows that everything is fine with her,” the Russian leader said. — AFP

“(Former US President Donald) Trump has imposed as many sanctions on Russia as any president has ever imposed before, and if Harris is doing well, perhaps she will refrain from such actions.” In February, Putin backed Biden over Trump, calling the current president more “predictable”. The White House called on Putin to “stay out” of US elections in response.

Trump has said he will end the Ukraine conflict within “24 hours” if he is re-elected and has praised Putin as a “very smart cookie” who had repeatedly outsmarted the United States. Putin said in July that he took Trump’s comments about bringing a quick end to the fighting “quite seriously”, and denounced the former real-estate magnate’s convictions in the US as “persecution”. Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s city of Poltava rose to 55 with over 300 wounded, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. The strike hit the Poltava military communications institute on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials who did not specify how many of the victims were military or civilians. On Tuesday, the official toll stood at 51 people killed in one of one of the single deadliest strikes of the two-and-a-half-year war. “Poltava -- the death toll from a Russian missile attack on an educational institution in the city has risen to 55. 328 people were injured,” Ukraine’s emergency services said.

People could still be trapped under the rubble, it added, two days after two ballistic missiles hit the city, in central Ukraine. – AFP