Donald Trump has become the first former US head of state ever convicted of a crime after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony charges in a hush money case. However, the Kremlin’s reaction to the New York jury’s verdict appears to be quite amusing, so to speak.

According to it, former US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented trial for falsifying business records shows the White House is “eliminating” its political rivals. “The fact that a de-facto elimination of political rivals by all possible legal and illegal means is going on there is obvious,” Kremlin has been quoted as saying by global media.

How ironic it is that Russia, a country that is ruled by an autocrat or despot, Vladimir Putin, has chosen to assail the judiciary of a country which is rightly described as one of the most democratic states in the world, although the Russian President is fully aware of the fact that judiciary in his country is often accused by rights groups and foreign governments of jailing dissidents.

We all know that despite many faults and weaknesses, American democracy is supported by key features such as freedom of speech, rule of law and fair elections. But Russia is no democracy.

In other words, Russia under Putin will never be a democracy. In my view, therefore, Putin, who is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin, is not just an autocrat; he is in fact something worse.

Hassan Mumtaz, Islamabad

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024