WASHINGTON, October 8. /TASS/. The US intelligence community believes that Russia would prefer to see Republican candidate Donald Trump as the new president of the United States, while Iran would rather see Harris winning the November 5 election, a spokesperson for the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said at a briefing for foreign journalists.
"The intelligence community continues to assess that Russia prefers the former president [Donald Trump] and Iran prefers the vice president [Kamala Harris]," the spokesperson said.
"We also continue to assess that China is not seeking to influence the presidential election. As we approach election day, the intelligence community is also stressing that foreign efforts to undermine America's democracy won't end on November 5. The intelligence community expects foreign influence actors to continue their campaigns by calling into question the validity of the elections results after the polls close," he added.
The US will hold its presidential election on November 5. Former President Donald Trump is the Republican candidate, while Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic hopeful. Earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin joked that after incumbent US President Joe Biden was "withdrawn" from the race, Moscow was behind Harris. The Russian leader noted, however, that "at the end of the day, it is up to the American people to choose." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out that Moscow did not distinguish between the US presidential contenders.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 1 Russia does not have a preferred candidate in the US election, but "the Democrats are more predictable." Later that month, he said that the upcoming election in the US is "not a priority interest for us as we are focused on domestic problems and our own agenda." When asked who Russia would prefer to win the US presidential race, Peskov noted that "this should be a question for US voters, who are eagerly awaiting the election.".