'US-Russia rivalry will continue under Joe Biden': Senior Russian lawmaker

A senior Russian lawmaker has said that the rivalry between Washington and Moscow will continue even after US President-elect Joe Biden takes over in January. Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian upper house, while speaking to the press on Tuesday, said there will be no breakthrough in the relationship between Russia and the US, adding that the military and political rivalry between both nations will continue even after Joe Biden assumes the presidency. 

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US will continue to pursue 'America First' policy

Kosachev said that he believes the United States will follow the same "America First" policy under Joe Biden and will continue to put Washington's interests above everyone else's, including allies and opponents. Kosachev assumed that Joe Biden will walk on the same path as his predecessors Donald Trump and Barack Obama, adding it is just that the rhetoric will be different. Thus, he added, the political and military rivalry between the US and Russia will continue and will see no breakthroughs during Biden's presidency. 

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Kosachev's remarks came as the Electoral College in the United States voted on Monday to cement Joe Biden's victory. The former vice-president reportedly received 306 electoral college votes, well above the 270-mark needed to win the US Presidential election. The votes will now be examined by the US Congress on January 6 following which Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20. 

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Russia was one of the major subjects of contention between Joe Biden and incumbent Donald Trump during the presidential election campaign as both continued to call each other a stooge of Moscow. The United States intelligence community had warned ahead of the polls that Russia was trying hard to influence the election through malicious ways with some reports even claiming that the Russian state actors want Biden to lose. Russia allegedly interfered in the 2016 election as well, which saw Trump become the 45th US President. 

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(With inputs from ANI)