Moscow Ready to Work with Whoever Declared Winner of US Vote: Kremlin

On Monday, the Kremlin official spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow is ready to work with whoever is declared the winner of the US vote, stressing his country's desire to re-establish a dialogue with the next US president.

In a press conference, Peskov added that Russian President Vladimir Putin is awaiting for the official results of the US presidential election to be released before congratulating a winner.

"We consider it correct to wait for the official results to be finalized. I want to remind you that President Putin repeatedly said he will respect the choice of the American people," Kremlin spokesman told reporters.

Many world leaders congratulated President-elect Joe Biden after he took an insurmountable lead over Donald Trump in the vote count.

When Trump won the 2016 presidential election over Hillary Clinton, Putin congratulated him within roughly an hour.

Peskov said that this election was different because of the legal challenges that Trump, who has refused to concede defeat, is planning to mount over the vote.

"The difference is quite obvious... then there were no announcements of legal challenges," Peskov said.

After a lengthy count, Biden’s victory was finally announced Saturday – with joyous scenes breaking out across the US.

He has defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States. He won Pennsylvania on Saturday to exceed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Biden has pledged to be a “President for all Americans”, while running mate Kamala Harris said it was a race “for the soul of America”.