Russia announced late Wednesday that it was withdrawing its ambassador to the U.S. effective Saturday for “consultations” after U.S. President Joe Biden publicly attacked and threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“On March 20, Ambassador of Russia to the United States Anatoly Antonov is leaving for Moscow for consultations. During his meetings in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies, it is planned to discuss ways to rectify Russia-U.S. ties that are in crisis,” the Russian embassy confirmed on Wednesday.
“The current situation is a result of the deliberate policy of Washington that during the past years was making steps to bring — in essence, intentionally — our bilateral interaction into a deadlock. The unconstructive course of the Administration towards our country does not meet the interests of Russia and the United States, while certain ill-considered statements of high-ranking U.S. officials have put the already excessively confrontational relations under the threat of collapse at all,” the statement added.
Russia’s move comes a day after Biden’s sit-down interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, during which he characterized Putin as “a killer” and threatened Russia would “pay the price” for interfering in the Nov. 2020 presidential election – a revelation declassified by Biden’s intelligence chief this week.
“[Putin] will pay a price,” Biden said, without elaborating on the repercussions. “We had a long talk, he and I, when we — I know him relatively well. And the conversation started off, I said, ‘I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.”
When Stephanopoulos asked if Biden thought Putin was “a killer,” Biden replied. “Mmm hmm, I do.”
In reaction to Biden’s comments, Putin said on Thursday, “I remember in my childhood, when we argued in the courtyard we used to say: it takes one to know one. And that’s not a coincidence, not just a children’s saying or joke,” as Reuters reported.
Putin implied that Biden was projecting his own self-assessment, saying, “We always see our own traits in other people and think they are like how we really are. And as a result we assess (a person’s) activities and give assessments.”
Putin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov later called Biden’s comments “very bad,” on Thursday, adding, “He clearly does not want to improve relations with our country, and we will be proceeding based precisely on this,” as New York Times reported.
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