Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin a 'killer' with 'no soul', Russia recalls US envoy

Russia on March 17 said that it has called its US envoy back to Moscow to "correct Russian-American ties in the crisis" after President Joe Biden described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “killer” who would “pay a price” for meddling in the 2020 presidential election for promoting former President Donald Trump’s victory.

Marking the first significant diplomatic pickle since acquiring White House in January, in an interview with ABC News, when Biden was asked about the American intelligence report that stated Putin ‘authorised’ 2020 November election meddling and tried to harm his Democratic candidacy, US President said, “He will pay a price.”

Further, when the US President was asked if he thought the Russian President who has been accused of ordering the opposition leader Alexei Navalny and other rivals is a “killer”, Biden said, “I do.” The remarks that can further deteriorate US-Russia relations under Biden presidency aired as the United States Commerce Department announced that it was toughening export restrictions imposed on Russia as a penalty for Navalny’s alleged poisoning. 

Meanwhile, the 15-page report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that Putin either oversaw or at least approved of the November 3 election meddling to benefit Trump.

How has Russia retaliated?

However, Russia has already slammed the report and said "the document prepared by the US intelligence community is another set of groundless accusations against our country of interfering in American internal political processes.” Now in a statement on March 17, the Russian Embassy said that “Russian Ambassador to the United States A.I.Antonov will fly to Moscow on March 20 for a consultation. During the meetings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and other departments, it is planned to discuss ways to correct Russian-American ties in the crisis.”

“This situation is a result of Washington's focused policy, which has essentially deliberately led bilateral interaction to a dead-end over recent years. The unconstructive administration course against our country does not suit Russia and the United States, and individual ill-considered statements by American leaders endanger the collapse of already excessively confrontational relations,” the statement added.