Moscow claimed the US presidential debate had been won convincingly by Vladimir Putin - after Joe Biden's horror performance.
Russian experts saw the Kremlin dictator as the real winner as Joe Biden’s implosion left leadership of the Western world in peril. The president stumbled over his words, served confused responses, and appeared to freeze on stage.
The impression in Moscow is that Putin will be able to dictate terms in the war in Ukraine with the West appearing leaderless - with many Russians believing that Donald Trump would be more favourable to Putin both in backing Moscow's demands and stopping the flow of Western munitions to Kyiv.
Professor Alexey Chesnakov, of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, declared: “Who won today's debate? Putin!”
Russia propaganda TV rejoiced in exploiting Biden’s weak performance.
“A half-open mouth, unblinking eyes, a blank expression on his face—this is how Joe Biden appeared before an audience of millions,” said Russian state TV New York bureau chief Valentin Bogdanov on Kremlin mouthpiece channel, RT.
“He added to this sad spectacle a hoarse voice, swallowed words and constant slips of the tongue.
“The most loyal liberal CNN anchors were powerless. The head of the White House did not even lose to Trump. To himself.”
Pro-Kremlin outlet Pool No. 3 mocked that Biden “was taken out in public for an hour and a half without assistants, cheat sheets or a prompter, and everyone saw who he really was - an elderly, frail man with weak memory and partial loss of thinking, who, in an amicable way, should be babysitting his grandchildren at home, and not to impose democracy around the world in an aggressive manner.
“To put it simply, the States discovered that their king was completely naked. That is why there is such a howl in the Washington swamp.”
It claimed: “Putin, naturally, won in the debates." Political scientist Alexander Gorbunov ridiculed the US political system, contrasting it with Russia’s dictatorship which ensured strong leadership.
“Everyone understands that one [contender] has already lost his presence in this world, and the second is present purely for fun [Trump]. In theory, both of them should have been dumped at the primaries stage: for health reasons and a combination of scandals.
“But in practice, no one will loudly say: ‘Listen, these two have already sat in the Oval Office, let's consider someone else?’ The third [option] is not even in a hypothetical idea….How do you say in English: ‘If not Putin, then who?’”
Another pro-Kremlin Telegram channel reported: “Convincing victory for Putin.” Vladimir Kornilov, analyst at state news outlet Russia Today, noted a veteran Democratic strategist saying that Biden cannot now beat Trump. The Russian pundit said: “I just want to ask this “experienced strategist”: wasn’t this clear to you before the debate?”
Earlier state-run Channel One said: “For Donald Trump, the issue is that he is a convicted felon, and for Joe Biden, it is his age. This might seem a formality, but the chances of at least one or even both of them not being the candidate are not zero.”