Steve Rosenberg
Editor of BBC Russia

Image source, Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters

Kamala Harris told Donald Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”

The expression “to eat someone for lunch (or breakfast, or any other meal)” does not exist in Russian. But in Moscow, people are very excited about a US election result that benefits Russia.

The Kremlin will have noted (with pleasure) that Trump avoided the question in the debate of whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war.

“I want the war to stop,” Trump replied.

Harris, on the other hand, spoke of a “just defense” of Ukraine and claimed that Putin had “his eye on the rest of Europe.”

In public comments, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova downplayed the importance of the debate.

“It’s like two famous boxers competing on the Titanic,” Ms Zakharova told Sputnik radio.

“At the end of the fight, people ask, ‘Who won?’ But does it matter? This is the Titanic. In 15 minutes they’re going to hit the iceberg.”

Last week, Putin claimed he would support Harris in the election and praised her “infectious laugh.”

Later, a Russian state television presenter noted that the Kremlin chief had reacted with “a touch of irony.” He expressed doubts that the US vice president was a serious politician and suggested that she should host a cooking show on television instead.

Could such a show be about “dictators” eating US presidential candidates “for lunch”?