Pro-Kremlin figures and state media also widely shared the results of a CNN poll showing that Americans overwhelmingly believed Trump won the debate.
Several Russian media outlets also ran separate stories on Trump’s statement that “Ukraine’s not winning that war” and suffering heavy losses — a message that will be well received by many Russians — because of Biden “and his stupid decisions.”
And yet the tone in Moscow toward Trump has been notably less enthusiastic than several years ago when he first ran for president.
The lack of what Moscow sees as progress on reversing sanctions during Trump’s presidential stint appears to have instilled a level of cynicism among Kremlin propagandists toward both candidates.
“In reality, there is no Trump plan whatsoever” to resolve the war in Ukraine, Spiridon Kilinkarov, a former Ukrainian lawmaker turned pro-Kremlin commentator, said ahead of the debate on the “Gaparyan” current affairs show.
“We should not have illusions about a change of political leadership as a result of the U.S. elections,” he added. “They all want, if not Russia’s defeat, then an exit from this situation at Russia’s expense. When it comes to this nothing has changed, and there is a certain consensus on this.”
That apprehension seemed to be confirmed by Trump during the debate, with several Russian outlets on Friday headlining with Trump’s rejection of Russia’s proposal for peace — if it gets to keep Ukrainian territory — as “not acceptable.”
Putin has said in the past that he prefers Biden to Trump because he’s “more experienced, more predictable” — but whether that’s a real endorsement for the man who called Putin a “killer” is questionable.
