– Anya, we are going to have a new president.                                                          – I know.                                                                                                                            – I saw people waving flags and dancing in the streets.                                            – I know.                                                                                                                            – How? The results were updated just a couple of hours ago, and you are in Russia.                                                                                                                                – The media doesn’t sleep.

If you enter the word “но́вости” (news) in Russian into a search engine and open any link, you will see three main news: coronavirus updates, the resignation of three ministers, and the results of the US election (вы́боры). The aftermath of the election night has been widely covered in the Russian media. To show who was in the lead at what moments, journalists (журнали́сты) had to make lengthy introductions to the article, explaining the American voting (голосова́ние) system to the readers.

Here is what the most prominent Russian mass media (СМИ or сре́дства ма́ссовой информа́ции) says:

Television Broadcasting (Телевеща́ние)

“Nothing will ever be the same… What are we witnessing? What is the world coming to? Not only this country but the world?“, said Yevgeny Popov, the host of the state television program (програ́мма / телепереда́ча) “60 Мину́т“.

“As for the victory in the presidential election (вы́боры президе́нта) in the United States, plywood companies are among the undisputed winners,” with these words, Dmitry Kiselyov, a renowned journalist, presenter (веду́щий), and the news executive (руководи́тель отде́ла новосте́й) of “Ве́сти неде́ли” (“Vesti Nedeli”), ended the news program on November 8, hinting at riots in the country.

Vladimir Solovyov, a well-known talk-show (ток-шо́у) host on “Россия-1” (“Russia-1”), said that the USA had “managed to deliver a crushing blow against what trust remained in the procedure of elections itself.”

“A poll of 1,000 Russians published (опублико́ваный) in September asked whether Trump or Biden was more likely to be beneficial to their country. The most common answer given was that it “does not matter,” “RT” (“Russia Today”) television news channel (кана́л) describes the lack of public concern in Russia.

“Ру́сская слу́жба Би-би-си” (“BBC News Russian”) believes that the relations between Russia and the United States have remained poor for many years and “predicts that pressure on Russia will increase.”

Newspapers (Газе́ты)

And Radio Broadcasting (Pадиовеща́ние)

“Melania “counts minutes until divorce” – states the headline (заголо́вок) of yesterday’s article (статья́) in the newspaper “Моско́вский Комсомо́лец” (“Moskovskij Komsomolets”). Today’s article explains why Putin did not congratulate Biden: “Press Secretary (пресс-секрета́рь) of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov told reporters (репортёры) that the Kremlin considers it correct to wait for the official summing up of the results (результа́ты) of the US presidential election in 2020.” In 2016, Putin congratulated Trump on his victory over Hillary on November 9.

The newspaper and radio channel “Комсомо́льская пра́вда” (“Komsomolskaya Pravda”) quoted (процити́ровал) the politician Alexei Chep. According to him, Joe Biden said before the election that he would be much firmer than Donald Trump in relations between the White House and the Kremlin.”

In contrast to this, the newspaper “Изве́стия” (“Izvestia”) cited Michael E. O’Hanlon: “Joe Biden’s victory could create opportunities for detente in relations between Washington and Moscow.”

“The Moscow Times,” an English-language online-only newspaper, told us how the main Russian opposition leader (ли́дер оппози́ции) Alexei Navalny congratulated Biden on his Twitter. “This is a privilege which is not available to all countries,” said Navalny.

The newspaper “Аргуме́нты и фа́кты,” (“Argumenty i Fakty”) which was very popular in the past, published (опубликова́ла) some photographs of how Americans greeted the news of Biden’s victory (побе́да) in the election.

“Эхо Москвы́,” (“Echo of Moscow”) which is considered an opposition radio station (радиоста́нция), maintains a blog on its website. On November 7, an article by Russian economist Konstantin Sonin stated the following: “The 2020 election has once again demonstrated the unique resilience of the American political system – the incumbent has no “non-election” levers to maintain power.”

News Agencies

According to the Russian News Agency “TACC,” (“TASS”) Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kremlin looks forward to building dialogue with the next US President.

A privately-held independent primary news agency in Russia “Интерфа́кс” (“Interfax”) briefly covers post-election news several times a day.

The Federal Information (информацио́нный) and Analytical (аналити́ческий) Agency (аге́нтство) “Росба́лт” (“Rosbalt”) has three tabs of top news in the header on its website: “US Election,” “People against Lukashenko,” and “Coronavirus Pandemic.” In one of the latest articles, the author (а́втор) wrote, “Trump, we recall, was supported by fewer voters (избира́тели) than his opponent (оппоне́нт) Hillary Clinton, and he headed the United States because of the peculiarities of the American electoral legislation (избира́тельное законода́тельство).”

The election results confirm that Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States. But Donald Trump is not going to give up his position. It looks like the media won’t get a chance to sleep next month either.

Meanwhile, I would like to mention an extremely unusual bill introduced in the Russian Parliament this past Thursday. It would give ex-presidents lifetime immunity from prosecution. There are many rumors and jokes about the reason for this in Russia.