Russia reacts with anger after Biden calls Putin ‘killer’



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When interviewer George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if he thought Putin was “a killer,” the president replied, “Mhmm. Yes.”

Responding to the comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that “there has been no such thing in history.”

He said it was clear that Biden “certainly does not want to improve relations” with Russia and that relations between the two countries are “very bad”. When asked how this could affect relations, Peskov said “how is absolutely clear” but declined to give further details.

“These are very bad statements from the President of the United States. He certainly does not want to improve relations with us, and we will continue from there,” Peskov said.

Russia withdrew its US ambassador on Wednesday in response to the comments. Peskov added that he could not say whether Putin himself would react to this remark and he insisted that the ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, had been “invited” to return to Moscow to discuss Russian relations. American.

Peskov said that there are currently no plans for Putin to meet with Antonov, but if necessary, Putin will have a discussion with him.

Biden says Putin 'will pay a price' for Russia's efforts to undermine 2020 US election

In the interview, Biden also claimed that he told Putin in 2011 that he didn’t think Putin had a soul. Putin’s response, Biden recalls, was to say, “We understand each other.”

“Look, the most important thing about foreign leaders, and I’ve dealt with a lot of them in my career, is just to know the other guy,” Biden told ABC.

The U.S. intelligence community said in its Tuesday report that the Russian government interfered in the 2020 election with an influence campaign “denigrating” President Joe Biden and “supporting” former President Donald Trump, detailing a massive disinformation campaign that was successful in targeting and was openly embraced. , by Trump’s allies.

The report is the most comprehensive assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 election to date, detailing extensive influence operations by US adversaries who sought to undermine confidence in the democratic process, in addition to targeting candidates to the specific presidency.

The president would not provide ABC with more details on the “price” Putin will pay, but the Biden administration is expected to announce sanctions related to election interference as early as next week, three US State Department officials told CNN. Officials did not disclose any details about the expected sanctions, but said they would target several countries, including Russia, China and Iran.

Anna Chernova, Zahra Ullah reported from Moscow, Rob Picheta wrote to London.

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