Putin announced “falsifications” in the 2020 US elections

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, at a meeting with the heads of municipalities, expressed the opinion that falsifications were allowed in the elections in the USA. He discussed the American elections in the context of voting in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. According to Putin, it is impossible to falsify the results of this vote.

It follows from the context that Putin had in mind the US presidential election in 2020. Democrat Joe Biden then became the winner, ahead of President Donald Trump. Trump did not admit his defeat, he declared about falsifications in key states. The courts rejected these claims, but Trump, who is again fighting for the presidential nomination this year, insists on his.

Putin actually repeated the argument of Trump’s supporters, said that the elections in the USA were falsified due to postal voting, but did not specify in whose favor it was done. Previously, Putin did not directly speak about the alleged falsifications that took place in the United States.

The Russian president started the conversation about the United States by talking about last year’s vote in the four occupied regions of Ukraine, the annexation of which was announced by Russia. According to Putin, the results of the voting there “were impossible to falsify”, because, as he put it, people cannot be forced to come to polling stations if they don’t want to, even at gunpoint.

The Russian authorities imposed martial law in the occupied regions. Independent observers did not actually monitor the voting there. There were cases when ballot boxes were carried around the house accompanied by armed soldiers – that is, in fact, in Putin’s words, “under the barrel of a machine gun.” The counting of votes was conducted in a non-transparent manner. Western countries condemned the voting and did not recognize its legitimacy. The vast majority of UN member states consider the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia to be sovereign Ukrainian territory.

• On March 15-17, the Russian authorities intend to organize voting there again, this time for the presidential election of Russia. Putin himself is running for a fifth term in these elections, which was not initially provided for by the Constitution, but became possible after the adoption of amendments in 2020. Elections in Russia, especially in recent years, are assessed by independent observers and experts as not free and dishonest, characterized by government interference in the electoral process, difficult access of the opposition to the elections, the creation of preferences for pro-government candidates, and in some cases, it is claimed, direct falsifications . In recent years, the Russian authorities have significantly changed election laws, making it more difficult to nominate candidates, campaign and monitor elections. The changes affected the electoral rights of whole categories of citizens.