With Joe Biden projected to win the US presidential elections on Saturday, many world leaders hastened to congratulate him on his victory, writes BBC.

“But not everyone has been so keen - in fact some have been conspicuous in their absence. Here are some key international figures who have not sent messages of support or who have appeared lukewarm in their congratulations. Some have gone even further, congratulating Trump or backing unsubstantiated claims he has made about voter fraud. At least one minister has paid for his remarks with his job.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Four years ago Mr Putin was among the first to congratulate Donald Trump on his election victory, but there has been no tweet, telegram or phone call to Mr Biden this time.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the reason for the delay was the legal challenges being launched by the Trump campaign.

“We believe the correct thing to do would be to wait for the official election result”, - he told reporters.

But the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says there is a suspicion that the lack of congratulations reflects the fact that Moscow is not excited by the outcome.

Biden is a vocal critic of Moscow and recently identified Russia as the biggest threat to America. Trump has rarely criticised Russia or Putin, and Russia was accused of interfering in the 2016 election to get Trump elected”, - wrote the author.

He added that Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also didn’t congratulate Joe Biden.