On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of attempting to sabotage the 2022 US midterm elections, which will be held in November of that year, with all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate up for grabs. The US president described Putin as “dangerous,” alleging that his Russian counterpart is in charge of an economy based solely on nuclear weapons and “nothing else.”
Biden made these remarks to a group of about 120 US intelligence officials who gathered at the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) in northern Virginia on this day.
“Look at what Russia doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation,” said the US president, referring to the information he received during his daily briefing. Without elaborating much on the matter, Biden said that the Russian president’s actions are a “pure violation” of the United States’ sovereignty.
“Putin has a real problem,” Biden said. “He is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and nothing else. He knows he is in real trouble, which makes him even more dangerous in my view.”
The US president also mentioned an uptick in cyberattacks, including ransomware, allegedly carried out by Russia. “If we end up in a real shooting war with a major power, it will be as a result of a cyber breach,” Biden warned, explaining that ransomware attacks typically encrypt victims’ data before demanding money to restore access.
On November 8, 2022, the United States will hold its midterm elections. Around the same time, 39 state and territorial gubernatorial elections, as well as numerous other state and local elections, are scheduled.
