Mr. Putin expressed that endorsement this month, noting that a change in sanctions against Russia could come should she be elected. Now Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is walking back Mr. Putin’s statement. “It was a joke,” Mr. Lavrov said in an interview with Sky News Arabia that was posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website Friday. “President Putin has a good sense of humor. He often jokes during his statements and interviews.” “I see no long-term differences in our attitude to the current or previous elections in the United States, because it is ruled by the notorious deep state,”...