Russia may have delayed announcing its withdrawal from Kherson

Russia may have delayed announcing its withdrawal from Kherson in part to avoid giving President Joe Biden a political win ahead of the US midterm elections last week.

The US has intelligence that senior Russian officials discussed the US midterm elections as a factor during deliberations about the withdrawal announcement, Qazet.az reports according to CNN.

The intelligence signals Russia has a continued interest in influencing the US political landscape, and comes after President Biden suggested the timing of Moscow’s withdrawal announcement was more than just coincidence.

At a press conference last Wednesday, Biden said:

I find it interesting they waited until after the election to make that judgement, which we knew for some time they were going to be doing, and it’s evidence of the fact that they have some real problems – the Russian military.