Poor Russia-US ties will not improve after midterms: Kremlin

‘Relations still are, and will remain, bad,’ says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Results of the US midterm elections will not change the “bad” relations between Moscow and Washington, the Kremlin has reportedly said.

According to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday: “These elections are important, but it’s not necessary to exaggerate their importance in the short and medium-term for our relations.

“These elections cannot change anything essential. Relations still are, and will remain, bad.”

Peskov said Moscow was so used to hearing people say Russia interferes in US elections that it was not paying attention to new allegations of their involvement.

He added that it was too early to discuss dialogue with the US on extending the new START nuclear arms treaty; the deadline is 2026.

The last arms reduction pact between Russia and the US caps to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington.

Russia previously expressed a willingness to discuss the treaty, but the US said it would only happen if Washington could resume on-site inspections.

Under the deal, both sides are allowed to inspect the nuclear weapons-related sites of the other.

Russian interference

Diplomatic relations between Russia and the US have been strained since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.

US voters took to the polling booths on Tuesday to vote in an election that could change which party controls both the House and the Senate.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have emerged as clear winners.

On Monday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s secretive mercenary force the Wagner Group, admitted to interfering in the US elections on social media.

“We have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere – carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” he said.

“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once.”

Prigozhin has previously been sanctioned over connections to interfering in the US elections after being linked to the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm used during the 2016 elections.

The White House has said American support for Ukraine will be “unflinching and unwavering” after the midterms end.

Although most candidates from both parties back Kyiv, some right-wing Republican candidates have expressed doubt about the cost of US military aid while Democrats on the left faced backlash after calling for “vigorous” diplomacy to end the war.