The state duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, erupted in applause Wednesday as Republican Donald Trump was declared the winner of the U.S. election.
“Hillary Clinton has admitted defeat in the U.S. presidential election, and a second ago Trump began his speech as president-elect of the United States of America, and I congratulate you all,” said Vyacheslav Nikonov, a state duma member, as the house applauded.
President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump on his victory in a telegram, according to the Kremlin, expressing his hope the new president would work with him to help “lead Russian-American relations out of their current state of crisis.”
Trump has repeatedly voiced his admiration for Putin, promised to promote “easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia,” and said that he would not unconditionally back NATO members under attack, as required by the collective defense clause of the NATO treaty.
Russian Senator Vadim Tyulpanov told the TASS Russian news agency that the surprise election result showed Americans “have grown tired of the excessive aggression by the White House,” and have seen through the current administration’s “lies and distortion of facts.”
Sergey Mironov, the leader of the Just Russia party in the duma, told reporters that “a new life will begin” once Trump assumes office in January. “I do hope that it will be a new page in relations between Russia and the United States,” he said.
While more cautious in his reaction to Trump’s victory, the head of Russia’s Federation Council Committee for International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev said the result “is better than the hopelessness of a Clinton America.”
Pro-Kremlin pundits also jumped to herald the election results, seizing the opportunity to slam their American counterparts.
The Izvestia news site accused “practically all American media, without a hint of objectivity” of backing a Clinton presidency. One of its analysts asserted that if the election had been held in Russia in similar circumstances, it would be declared “unfair and illegitimate.”
The Gazeta.ru news site declared the election result was “even more of a defeat” for Obama than for Clinton, predicting his legacy would be undone by President-elect Trump.
The Kremlin also rejected claims it had interfered with the results of the U.S. election.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused America of using Russia as a scapegoat, in response to a now-deleted tweet by former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul that stated “Putin intervened in our elections and succeeded.”
Zakharova said: “First the Obama administration appoints these ‘McFauls’ to positions of responsibility and entrusts them to manage not only their country, but also many vassal states, and then, when the situation becomes a stalemate, begins to shout that Moscow is to blame.”