Tara Reade, a former staffer for then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) who accused Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign of sexually assaulting her, has defected to Russia.

Reade made the announcement during a Russian state press conference while she sat next to Russian spy Maria Butina, who was previously convicted and sentenced to prison in the U.S. for conspiring to act as an agent of Russia inside the U.S.

“I’m still kind of in a daze a bit, but I feel very good,” Reade told Sputnik News. “I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who’s been giving me that at a time when it’s been very difficult to know if I’m safe or not.”

“I’m not going to be intimidated, bullied or silenced. I’m going to speak out and I’m willing to speak under oath about the corruption I witnessed, about the crime I experienced,” she claimed. “And it is remarkable that Joe Biden raped me when I worked for him at U.S. Congress and I’m supposed to be the fugitive. That is ridiculous and it’s unacceptable.”

Reade said that she was requesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin make her a citizen of the Russian Federation.

“I am going to make a request and it’s a large one: I’d like to apply for citizenship in Russia from the president of the Russian federation, Vladimir Putin, and hopefully Maria can help me from the State Duma,” Reade said, adding: “I do promise to be a good citizen and move forward with my life in a positive way.”

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During the press conference, Reade repeatedly took shots at the United States and spouted pro-Kremlin talking points.

Reade alleged during the 2020 presidential election that in 1993 then-Senator Biden forced himself on her while she was a staffer in a deserted hallway of a Senate building and penetrated her with his fingers. After being almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media for weeks, Reade’s allegation was finally addressed by The New York Times in a much-scrutinized examination of Reade’s allegation that Biden’s campaign initially portrayed as having exonerated him, but which the Times made clear in a strong rebuke of Biden’s camp had not.

Reade documented the alleged assault in late March 2020, saying that it happened when a supervisor instructed her to take a gym bag to Biden.

“I handed him the thing. He greeted me. He remembered my name. And then we were alone,” Reade said. “It was the strangest thing. There was no like exchange really. He just had me up against the wall. I was wearing like a skirt, a business skirt.”

“It happened all at once … his hands were on me and underneath my clothes,” Reade continued. “Yeah, and he went down my skirt but then up inside it, and he penetrated me with his fingers, and he was kissing me at the same time, and he was saying something to me. He said several things. I can’t remember everything he said.”

The Japanese government activated its emergency alert system early Wednesday morning after North Korea appeared to launch what the government suspected could be a ballistic missile.

“North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile,” the Japanese prime minister’s office said. “PM’s instructions: 1. Dedicate maximum effort to gather & analyze information, & provide the public speedy & adequate information. 2. Ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels, & other assets. 3. Take all possible measures for precaution, incl. readiness for contingencies.”

PM’s instructions (06:32)

1. Dedicate maximum effort to gather & analyze information, & provide the public speedy & adequate information.

2. Ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels, & other assets.

3. Take all possible measures for precaution, incl. readiness for contingencies.

— PM's Office of Japan (@JPN_PMO) May 30, 2023

Japan alerted those living in the southern region of Okinawa to “please take shelters inside buildings or underground.”

About half an hour after the alert, the government canceled the alert, writing: “It is expected that the missile reported earlier will not come to Japan.”

#UPDATE Some 30 minutes after the warning, Japan's government tweets that the alert was cancelled. "It is expected that the missile reported earlier will not come to Japan," it said.

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 30, 2023

The news comes after Japan signaled at the start of the week that it would begin shooting down missiles fired into its territory.

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“We will take destructive measures against ballistic and other missiles that are confirmed to land in our territory,” Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Missile launches are becoming increasingly common from North Korea as dictator Kim Jong Un likes to engage in frequent saber rattling.

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the waters off the Korean Peninsula back in late March, according to CNN, just as the U.S. and South Korea were conducting their largest joint military exercises in the region since 2017.