Russia’s state-controlled media has declared Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris the winner of her debate with President Donald Trump this week.
In multiple articles from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s media outlets, the Kremlin praised Harris for the way she “masterfully” handled Trump.
It comes after Moscow denied having any interest in the debate.
On Monday, Putin’s press secretary Dmitriy Peskov denied that the Kremlin had any plans to watch the presidential debate.
“No, we are not planning to watch… It’s not our business,” he said in response to a question from a Russian journalist.
However, the Russian media, which is almost exclusively controlled by Putin’s government, has been reporting that the debate was “bad” for Trump.
As soon as the debate ended, Russian media outlets erupted with detailed reports and analysis of the Trump-Harris faceoff.
However, Putin’s commentariat exclusively declared Harris the winner while heaping praise on the Democrat vice president.
“Bad Night for Donald Trump” read the headline of an editorial run by the business journal Kommersant.
The article 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.”
The report noted that, at the beginning of the debate, she approached Trump, stretched her hand, and introduced herself saying, “Hello. I’m Kamala Harris.”
Kommerstant marveled at how “masterfully” Harris attacked and counterattacked.
The article claims Harris seized 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.”
Harris made the remarks while she was trying to portray Trump as being soft on Russia.
Prior to the debate, Peskov was publicly expressing the Kremlin’s wish for Trump and Harris not to use the Russian president’s name during the debate.
However, the Russians love it when American politicians and media portray Putin as a tough guy.
The Russian primary state TV network Channel One proudly announced that U.S. presidential candidates “mentioned the name of the Russian leader no fewer than 12 times.”
RIA Novosti, a Russian news agency, reported that Trump mentioned Putin’s name eight times and Harris four times, while Russia was mentioned nine times by Trump and “only” twice by Harris.
Predictably, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova used the opportunity to comment on the debate to attack the United States.
Speaking to Sputnik Radio, Zakharova called the debates a “show” and compared it to arena events.
“It is a match on the Titanic between two well-known fighters… who are boxers, kick-boxers or jiujitsu fighters.”
The Russian propaganda machine often uses the Titanic comparison to spread the narrative domestically and internationally that the U.S. is on the verge of collapsing.
In Moscow’s view, the polarization within society along political lines, as well as religious, ethnic and others, has reached extreme levels.
Komsomolskaya Pravda ran two pieces about the debate.
The first was titled “Kamala looked convincing but one misstep could zero out everything.”
The second article was called “Spy jewelry: Harris seen wearing ear-rings with audio prompter.”
Both articles claimed that the reason for Harris’s victory in the debate was her being wired up with earphones disguised as pearl earrings.
The articles suggest that Harris was reportedly receiving prompts on “what to say and how to say it” via the earrings, presumably from her campaign consultants.
The theory about the jewelry has also been going viral on social media in the U.S.
The candid observation of lessons learned from the debates that is valuable for Moscow was published by Gazeta.
The outlet ran a piece titled “A political scientist pointed to the hidden meaning of Harris’ declarations during the debate.”
The author observed that the debates revealed “the fear of the American elites of the growing crisis in the United States.”
The claim parrots the Kremlin’s propaganda points.
Gazeta’s editorial concluded that the current state of internal discord in American society is good for Putin because “Washington will avoid direct confrontation with Russia.”
The report says this distraction will allow Moscow to have “the space to maneuver, create new alliances and reinforce its positions.”
Last week, at an economic forum in Russia’s far east, Putin stated that Russia supports Harris to win the presidential elections, as Slay News reported.
Putin said he previously preferred President Joe Biden to Trump.
He claimed this is because Biden is a more predictable “old school” politician.
“We’re going to support her,” Putin said of Harris.
Moscow almost certainly favors Harris over Trump.
Russia believes Harris will place America firmly on the path to socialism, the system that led to the collapse of Russia’s predecessor, the USSR.
What is bad for America is good for Russia.
