MOSCOW — For years, state propaganda in both Russia and China has painted Western democracy as dangerously chaotic compared to what it described as the safety and stability of the countries’ authoritarian systems.
President Trump’s unfounded allegations that Democrats stole last week’s presidential election, Moscow and Beijing got a fresh chance to claim vindication.
Russia seized that chance, while China was more restrained, perhaps reflecting cautious optimism that a President-elect Joseph R. Biden could stabilize relations with the United States.
Neither country, however, congratulated Mr. Biden for winning the election, a silence that in itself served to underline the messiness of American democracy.
A spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia couched the delay as a technical matter of diplomatic protocol, and pledged that Mr. Putin would be ready to work with “any elected president of the United States.”
The spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters that the Kremlin would wait until Mr. Trump’s court challenges to the election results run their course.