Russia has recalled its Washington ambassador, Anatoly Antonov for talks to prevent the “irreversible deterioration” of relations with the US.
The Russian government said Moscow has called Antonov back to Moscow because US ties have reached a “blind alley”. The move came after US President Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin would “pay the price” for alleged election meddling.
In an interview, President Biden also confirmed he thought the Russian President is “a killer”. Mr Biden was commenting on an American intelligence report that suggested Mr Putin had authorized an interference campaign in last November’s presidential election in the US.
The report accuses Russia of trying to sway the election in favour of former President, Donald Trump.
President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov said the accusations lack evidence and would further harm bilateral ties.
Officials say they expect the US to impose sanctions on Russia by next week over the report’s conclusions. Washington has already imposed sanctions on four senior Russian officials earlier this month, over Moscow’s poisoning and imprisonment of opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Moscow described those sanctions as an unacceptable intervention in its domestic affairs.
Russia Foreign Ministry’s Comments
In a statement released after Biden’s interview, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it needed to “analyze” its relationship with USA.
“Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has been summoned to Moscow for consultations; in order to analyze what needs to be done in the context of relations with the United States.
“The most important thing for us is to identify ways of rectifying Russia-US relations”.
President Biden’s interview
Addressing the American intelligence report, President Biden said he had warned President Putin about a potential response to alleged election meddling during a call in late January.
“He will pay a price.”
Joe Biden
Asked what the consequences would be, he said, “You’ll see shortly.”
The President was also asked if he thinks Mr Putin is “a killer”. He said “I do”.
No sanctions for Khashoggi killing
The US president also discussed his administration’s decision to exempt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from any penalties for the October 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Last month, the Biden administration released a declassified US intelligence report which concluded that the crown prince authorized the team of Saudi security and intelligence officials that killed Khashoggi.
“We held accountable all the people in that organization – but not the crown prince. Because we have never, that I’m aware of … when we have an alliance with a country, gone to the acting head of state and punished that person and ostracized him.”
President Biden
The US has, however, imposed visa restrictions and penalties on the Saudi agents who killed and dismembered Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
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