Tensions have increased in recent months over accusations of hacking between former Cold War rivals and the United States demanding Russia to free Alexei Navalnyi.
Russia called its US ambassador back to Moscow for consultation on Wednesday as Joe Biden described Vladimir Putin as an “assassin” who would “pay a price” for electoral arbitration, the first major for the new US president. Causing diplomatic crisis.
In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Biden was asked about a US intelligence report that the Russian leader tried to damage his candidacy in the November 2020 election and promoted Donald Trump.
“He will pay a price,” said 78-year-old Mr. Biden.
Asked whether he thought Mr Putin, who has been ordered to poison anti-leader Alexei Navalny and other rivals, is a “killer”, Mr Biden said: “I do.”
The comments were aired as the US Department of Commerce announced it was strictly enforcing sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment for Mr Navalny’s poison.
Russia responded by calling its envoy home, although the State Department did not refuse to recall its own ambassador to Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov has been invited to come to Moscow for a consultation organized for the purpose of analysis and where to go in terms of relations with the United States.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Rybakov told RIA Novosti That “the responsibility for the further deterioration of Russian-American relations lies solely with the United States.”
In Washington, the State Department noted the Russian move and said Russia would “remain clear about Russia’s challenges”.
A State Department spokesman said AFP Said that the US envoy would remain in Moscow in the hope of maintaining “open channels of communication” and “reducing the risk of misunderstandings between our countries”.
White House spokesman Jane Saki had asked reporters whether the president believed Mr. Putin literally or merely metaphorically as a murderer.
“We do not keep our grip on the things we see as malicious and problematic actions,” Ms. Pasaki said, citing poisoning, cyber attacks and encounters on US troops in Afghanistan.
“He is not going to return to his direct communication, nor is he going to hold back in public,” she said. “We are not looking the other way as we have looked a little over the last four years.”
Mr. Biden told ABC News He held “lengthy talks” with Mr Putin after assuming office in January.
“The conversation started, I said, ‘I know you and you know me. If I set it up, be prepared’,” Mr Biden said.
Mr. Biden assesses that Mr. Putin is a “murderer” who gave a contrasting gesture with Mr. Trump’s persistent refusal to say anything negative about the Russian president.
With an interview in 2017 Fox News, Mr. Trump was asked that Mr. Putin is a “killer”. “There are too many murderers,” he replied. “You think there is so much innocence in our country?”
‘Know another man’
Despite his views about the Russian leader, Mr. Biden said “there are places where working together is in our mutual interest.”
“So I renewed the START agreement with him,” he said of the nuclear treaty. “It happened while he was doing this, but it is heavily in the interest of humanity, that we reduce the possibility of a nuclear exchange.”
Mr. Biden said he had learned from dealing with “a lot” of leaders during a political career spanning nearly five decades – for eight years as vice-president – in which the most important thing was “just getting to know the other man.”
Vyacheslav Volodyn, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, condemned Mr Biden for agreeing with Mr Putin’s description as a “murderer”.
“Bowden insulted the citizens of our country,” Mr. Wolodin said. “Attacks on our country are (Putin) attacks.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the US determination that Russia described the electoral infrastructure as “absolutely baseless and unbalanced” during the 2020 presidential election and used the excuse of new sanctions.
strained relationship
According to the US Intelligence Department, Mr. Putin and other senior officials were aware of and probably directed “Russia’s influence operation to influence the vote in favor of Mr. Trump.”
However, it concluded that the election results were not compromised.
Russia faced allegations of disturbances in the 2016 US election to launch a social media campaign to promote Mr Trump’s candidacy and discredit his rival Hillary Clinton.
Following Mr. Biden’s victory over Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin was among the last world leaders to congratulate the newly elected Democratic President.
In recent months tensions between former Cold War rivals have escalated over allegations of hacking and the US has demanded Russia free Mr. Navalny.
Mr. Navalny returned to Russia in January after being treated for poisoning in Germany, and is serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in a penal colony outside Moscow.
The Commerce Department said that the new restrictions prevent exports to Russia of more commodities controlled for national security reasons, including technology and software.
“The Commerce Department is committed to preventing Russia from accessing sensitive US technologies that could be diverted to its deadly chemical weapons activities,” it said.
The latest sanctions are the US sanctions imposed on Moscow since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
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