Putin declares Biden the winner!!

Vladimir Putin as we all know is a very cautious man. He wanted to be the last person on this Earth to admit that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. Well he very nearly made it. Having waited until today to send his congratulations to Biden, Putin is the last but one person to acknowledge the victory of the president-elect. That just leaves Donald Trump of course who I guess will never actually admit in public that he lost and Biden won. But Putin had to make a decision eventually. He waited until the US Electoral College had formally announced that Biden was the winner and then he sent his congratulations. It must have been hard for him. He stayed loyal to Trump for as long as he could but even he had to realise that the incumbent president had no chance of staying in the White House for a second term. And he has got to start thinking about how he is going to interact with Biden for the next four years. He can't just exclude him. There's an extension to the New Start nuclear reduction treaty for example. That's coming up in the New Year and it will be Biden's signature on the deal, not Trump's. I doubt Biden is Putin's sort of bloke. Far too sensible and diplomatic. But needs must. It will be interesting to see whether Putin changes his spots a little to take the Biden administration into account or whether he will just plough on with his ambitious plans for a revived Soviet Union. Knowing how Putin and Trump remained mates despite all the sanctions and anger and rhetoric and warnings of war in the future. Hopefully Biden will draw on his experience as vice president for eight years to calm Putin down and persuade him to stop looking at the US as an adversary. More importantly, let us hope that the less belligerent Biden will also bring a bit of peace and quiet in relations between Washington and Moscow.