Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, May 11, 2026

Putin And Bolsonaro Congratulate Biden On His Victory Over Trump

Putin And Bolsonaro Congratulate Biden On His Victory Over Trump

The Russian leader contacted U.S. President-elect Joe Biden after the Electoral College affirmed his victory. Putin was one of the last major world leaders to do so.
Updated at 3:30 p.m. ET


Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Joe Biden on his win in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, becoming one of the last world leaders to do so. Hours afterward, other leaders who had held off in recognizing Biden's victory — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — also congratulated Biden.

All three leaders had recently said they would wait for the U.S. election results to become official before contacting the winner. They reached out to Biden after the Electoral College affirmed his defeat of President Trump.

"For my part, I am ready for interaction and contacts with you," Putin said in his message to Biden, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

Bolsonaro addressed Biden as the president, saying he was sending his best wishes and hopes to the United States.

López Obrador congratulated Biden, saying in his morning news conference that he has sent Biden a letter. López Obrador said he hopes to work with Biden on migration issues.

Putin extended his good wishes to Biden the same week that U.S. officials said Russia infiltrated email systems at multiple agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of the Treasury. Russia has rejected the accusations, saying it did not play a role. But the country has previously been found to have used hackers and other means in attempts to influence elections in the U.S. and a number of other countries.

Despite a delay much longer than in 2016, when Putin sent Trump a congratulatory message the morning after the vote, a comparison of the Kremlin's official statements shows Putin's messages to Biden and Trump to be very similar. Both of the notices, for example, highlight Putin's confidence that the two longtime rival nations will be able to cooperate on important issues.

It remains to be seen when the two will speak directly. In 2016, Putin and Trump spoke by phone less than a week after the Russian leader extended his congratulations.

While many U.S. allies and other countries were quick to congratulate Biden after U.S. news organizations called the race on Nov. 7, a number of high-profile leaders held off.

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Biden in late November, for instance, more than a week after India's Narendra Modi and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu — two Trump allies — called Biden.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
The War Map: Professor Jiang’s Dark Theory of Iran, Trump, China, Russia, Israel, and the Coming Global Shock [Podcast]
The End of the Old Order [Podcast]
Labour Is No Longer a National Party [Podcast]
Lawyers vs Engineers: Why China Builds While America Litigates [Podcast]
The AI Gold Rush Is Coming for America’s Last Open Spaces [Podcast]
The Pentagon’s AI Squeeze: Eight Tech Giants Get In, Anthropic Gets Shut Out [Podcast]
AI Isn’t Stealing Your Job. It’s Dismantling It Piece by Piece.
Britain’s Democracy Is Now a Costume
Churchill’s Glass: The Drunk, the Doctor, and the Myth Britain Refuses to Sober Up From
The Met Gala Meets the Age of Billionaire Backlash
Russian Oligarch’s Superyacht Crosses Hormuz via Iran-Controlled Route
Gunfire Disrupts White House Correspondents’ Dinner as Trump Is Evacuated
A Leak, a King, and a Fracturing Alliance
Inside the Gates Foundation Turmoil: Layoffs, Scrutiny, and the Cost of Reputational Risk
UK Biobank Breach Exposes Health Data of 500,000, Listed for Sale on Chinese Platform
KPMG Cuts Around 10% of US Audit Partners After Failed Exit Push
French Police Probe Suspected Weather-Data Tampering After Unusual Polymarket Bets on Paris Temperatures
News Roundup
Microsoft lost 2.5 millions users (French government) to Linux
Privacy Problems in Microsoft Windows OS
News roundup
Péter András Magyar and the Strategic Reset of Hungary
Hungary After the Landslide — A Strategic Reset in Europe
Meghan Markle Plans Exclusive Women-Focused Retreat During Australia Visit
×