Putin says Truss victory in Tory leadership vote ‘far from democratic’

‘The people of Great Britain don’t take part... in the change of government,’ says the Russian leader

Vladimir Putin has hit out at the way new British prime minister Liz Truss was elected, claiming it was “far from democratic”.

The Russian President was speaking in Vladivostok on Wednesday. They were his first public comments on Truss’s appointment who became the PM on Tuesday after being elected by Tory party members.

Putin alluded to the fact she was chosen in a leadership ballot by members of her Conservative party only, not by the whole country.

She received more than 81,000 votes while rival Rishi Sunak got some 60,000 votes.

There have been calls in some quarters for Truss to call a general election.

“The people of Great Britain don’t take part, in this instance, in the change of government. The ruling elites there have their arrangements,” he told an economic forum in Vladivostok.

He was also asked about prospects for ties with Britain, Putin said: “We know the Tories’ position on these questions, including on relations with Russia. It’s their business how to build relations with the Russian Federation.

“Our business is to defend our own interests and we will do that consistently, let no one be in any doubt about that.”

In her previous role as foreign secretary, Truss clashed with Russia ahead of its invasion of Ukraine.

She made a visit to Moscow in February, when she and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a rancorous meeting. Lavrov described their conversation as like a dialogue between deaf and mute people, complaining that facts had “bounced off” her.

Russia’s foreign ministry has also openly mocked her over geographical gaffes, including on one occasion when she mixed up the Black and Baltic seas.

But Truss openly challenged Lavrov at their meeting over Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine, saying: “I can’t see any reason for having 100,000 troops stationed on the border, apart from to threaten Ukraine.” Moscow, which had denied invasion plans, sent its troops in two weeks later.

Britain Politics Truss (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service)

Since then, Britain has been one of the most active and vocal supporters of Ukraine in the war, supplying it with weapons and training. Ms Truss has already been invited to Kyiv to meet the Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

It is likely that Mr Putin’s criticism of British democracy will be shrugged off by the new PM. He has been president of Russia since 2000, except for a four-year gap between 2008-2012 when he was prime minister.

He has often been called an autocrat and dictator, and faced recent accusations from abroad of facism.