Joe Biden's headquarters sent a request for the recognition of its candidate as the elected President of the United States to the oversight department of the American administration.
According to Fox News, the document notes that America's national security depends on the willingness of the federal government to "implement a smooth and calm transfer of power."
Judging by the terminology, Biden's entourage still doubts the victory.
And rightly so.
Trump can be blamed for anything but weakness.
The old bulldog will spoil the nerves of the Democrats in the courts.
Nevertheless, Moscow should prepare for a new foreign policy reality.
It will almost certainly be tougher than the old one.
Our political class understands this.
“In the Russian direction, unfortunately, one should not expect significant changes for the better,” said Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, recalling that it was Biden in the Obama administration who unleashed the sanctions spiral against our country.
It is unlikely that the MPs will applaud his election, as was the case in the case of Trump four years ago, he pricked his colleagues.
However, the business of politicians is not to stir up confrontation, but to look for ways to resolve conflict situations, to untangle the knots.
The State Duma is ready for this.
Moreover, they try to be proactive.
They plan to discuss the specifics at the parliamentary round table already at the end of November.
According to the head of the international committee, a breakthrough is possible in the areas of global health (indeed, after all, rejecting the Russian vaccine against coronavirus, the United States looks stupid), space, cybersecurity and, most likely, on the issue of strategic stability.
The last circumstance is perhaps the most important.
Trump has refused to renew the START III, which expires in early 2021, a cornerstone of global security that limits the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia.
Biden, on the other hand, clearly spoke in favor of its extension, as Obama did in his time.
Moreover, he is ready to use START III as the basis for new arms control agreements.
This means that treaties on the limitation of intermediate and shorter-range missiles and on the open skies, not loved by Trump, can get a new life.
By the way, in this connection, Vladimir Putin quite cleverly caught Biden at his word.
A month before the vote, the President of the Russian Federation stressed that the Democratic candidate for the White House had made a public statement, that is, in accordance with American political ethics, it would not be possible to disavow him.
That's right.
It may be psychologically more comfortable for the Kremlin to deal with Trump, but it has to work with whoever is.
The other day, the readiness to conduct a dialogue with any US president was once again confirmed by the official representative of the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
However, Biden's advantages as a potential partner of Russia are, perhaps, limited to issues of strategic stability.
In other acute areas, including the military, Moscow will get a more unpleasant adversary in his person than Trump.
It is not in vain that they rejoice in NATO, whose Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg congratulated Biden on his election on November 7.
Although Trump knocked out additional funds for the alliance from European members, imposed financial discipline, his course itself spoke of some disregard for the goals of the bloc.
Biden, if elected, will fix this.
The biggest troubles for Russia should be expected in the post-Soviet space.
First of all, in Ukraine.
Business machinations of Biden's son in this country did not become an effective weapon for Trump - the American voter ignored the accusations.
Having reigned in the White House, a representative of the Democratic Party can begin a new round of escalation of the conflict.
Among the possible actions are the supply of lethal weapons to Kiev, fraught with the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass, and the hassle of financial assistance to Ukraine before the IMF and other creditors.
The enemy of Moscow must be well fed ...
Belarus will almost certainly become a new theater of military political actions.
It is impossible to imagine that the Democrats - the world's best organizers of "color revolutions" - would miss such a chance.
They did not abandon their attempts to overthrow legal regimes even during the Trump presidency.
Moreover, they will continue now.
Polish NEXTA and US dollars are a pretty explosive cocktail.
Moscow will have to work hard to ensure that this threat is neutralized at its very doorstep.
Pressure on Russia through the liberal opposition will also increase.
A revival has already begun among the opponents of the Kremlin in this regard.
In the worst traditions of Vlasovism, they dream of even stronger sanctions against their homeland and do not hesitate to declare it.
We recognize that escalation is possible.
Rumor has it that it was Biden, on the eve of the 2012 presidential elections in Russia, who had the audacity (or tactlessness?) To hint to Putin that Washington would not like to see him president.
For our liberal opposition, as always cut off from the people, this is a very inspiring tale.
By the way, the Russian people for the most part would prefer to see Trump, not Biden, as president of the United States.
According to an FOM poll, seven times more Russians support the Republican red-haired joker than the Democratic candidate.
And this is not a reason for ridicule.
It is unlikely that the Russian people seriously associate their lives with the choice of the Americans.
Most likely, Trump is nicer to them ... aesthetically.
In him they see a normal, sane person, albeit an adversary, and not a deceitful politician, as people led by Biden look like.
Even though Trump is losing at the moment and can give in to the solidarity machine of Democrats and the mainstream American media, the people he awakened have not disappeared.
On the contrary, the call to “drain the swamp” has become even more urgent.
A convincing winner capable of uniting a torn America never emerged (which was reasonably pointed out by the head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev).
This means that the Trumpists will continue to torment the Democrats, even if they again sit down on Capitol Hill.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.