Russia expects ‘nothing good’ from Biden

MOSCOW: With less than a month before Joe Biden moves into the White House, Moscow on Wednesday accused the incoming US administration of "Russophobia" after the president-elect promised to punish Russia for a major cyber attack.

Biden is expected to take a tougher stance against Russia than Donald Trump, whose ascent to the US presidency in 2016 was plagued by accusations of Russian interference to boost his campaign.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the last leaders to congratulate Biden on his election victory, sending his congratulatory message six weeks after the November 3 vote and saying he was ready for "collaboration".

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said the Kremlin was expecting "nothing positive" in ties with Washington. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov struck a similar note, speaking about Moscow’s expectations from the future US administration.

"We are definitely not expecting anything good," Ryabkov said in an interview with Interfax news agency. "And it would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom made their careers on Russophobia and throwing mud at my country," he added.

Washington has recently accused Russia of a major cyber attack on government agencies -- a claim Moscow has denied. Biden on Tuesday said the attack cannot go "unanswered", promising to retaliate once he steps into office on January 20.

The US president-elect also accused Trump of downplaying the gravity of the attack. Russia and the United States have a litany of issues to settle following the transition of power in Washington.

Tensions have raged for months over the fate of New START, which caps the number of nuclear warheads held by Washington and Moscow and expires in February, 2021. No agreement has been reached on the extension of the last major nuclear arms reduction accord between Russia and the United States. The Iran nuclear deal has also been on the brink of collapse ever since Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and imposed crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.