Moscow recalls the ambassador from Washington and demands an apology from the United States: what happened

In a big interview with ABC News, US President Joe Biden said he considers Russian President Vladimir Putin a murderer... Moscow's response was not long in coming; it recalled the Russian ambassador from the States for a consultation. Writes about it UNIAN.

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“Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov has been invited to Moscow for consultations to analyze what to do and where to move in the context of relations with the United States. The new American administration has been in power for almost two months, the symbolic milestone of 100 days is not far off, and this is a plausible excuse to try to assess what Biden's team is doing and what is not good, ”said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

It also blamed Washington for the dire state of Russian-American relations.

The statement to summon the ambassador followed immediately after US President Joe Biden sharply criticized Russian President Putin.

The US President noted that Putin will pay for his crimes, in particular, it was about Russia's large-scale efforts to tarnish Biden's reputation on the eve of the presidential election. He added that he had already warned the Russian president about this during a telephone conversation at the end of January.

"He will pay," Biden said. - We had a long conversation. I know him relatively well. At the beginning of the conversation, I said: “I know you, and you know me. If I establish that this has happened, then be prepared. "

The host asked: “So you know Vladimir Putin. Do you consider him a killer? "

“Mmm, yes,” Biden replied.

"Whoever calls his name is called that"

Answering Biden, it is not the first time that Putin remembered a tease from his childhood, writes with the BBC.

“Now with regard to the statement of my American colleague. We really know him personally, as he said. And what would I answer him? I would tell him: be healthy! I wish him good health. I say this without irony or jokes, ”Putin said.

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“And so, you know, I remember: in childhood, when we argued with each other, we used to say: whoever calls his name is called that,” the Russian president continued. - This is no coincidence, this is not just a childish saying and joke. The meaning is very deep in this, psychological. We always see our own qualities in another person. And we think that he is the same as we are. And, proceeding from this, we evaluate his actions and give an assessment in general. "

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not comment on whether Moscow is ready to consider severing diplomatic relations with the United States.

But he did not ignore Biden's words.

“I will not be verbose in response to this. I will only say that these are very bad statements by the President of the United States. He definitely does not want to improve relations with our country. From this point on, we will proceed from this, ”said Peskov.

This is not the first time Putin has quoted a tease about those "who call names" and "that's what they call". In June 2009, when he was Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, he urged members of the government not to be offended by their Belarusian partners after their statements about problems with the supply of dairy products from Belarus.

“Both in ordinary life and in politics, being offended is not the best development of events. You know, I was brought up on a Leningrad street, and in our yard in such cases they said: whoever calls you names is called that. But in politics it is customary to be guided by completely different considerations,” Putin said then.

Biden must apologize for his "boorish" statements, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, writes Ukrainian Truth.

Kosachev called Biden's statement a "watershed."

"Any expectations of a new policy from the new US administration in the Russian direction are nullified by this boorish statement," the Russian politician said.

Strange wording

“I’m not ready to comment on the wording“ invited ”- I don’t know what it means. The recall of the ambassador is a normal measure in diplomatic practice, which is designed to demonstrate dissatisfaction with certain actions of a partner, "political analyst Fyodor Lukyanov explains. with the BBC.

“This is a fairly common phenomenon. If I am not mistaken, Russia recalled the ambassador from the United States during the Iraq war. This is officially called a “consultation tip”. This is not an interruption of relations, but a decrease in their level during his absence. This fact in itself, given the reason, seems to me quite reasonable, if such an assessment of the head of another state sounds from the mouth of the first person of the state.

“Not reacting at all is rather strange,” the political scientist believes.

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“It seems to me that the Russian authorities were looking for some kind of compromise solution. On the one hand, it was impossible not to answer, but on the other, I probably did not want to squeeze it either. That is why we got such a somewhat strange formulation, ”he said. Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council.

“It leaves open the road to dialogue, but at the same time it gives a clear signal of dissatisfaction with Biden’s words,” Kortunov comments. "I think this step is designed to a greater extent for the American audience: there is a feeling that not everything is lost in the American direction, and we would not like to close the remaining opportunities."

US reaction to the recall of the ambassador

White House spokesman Jen Psaki did not elaborate on whether Biden's words were literal or metaphorical. Voice of America.

“He will not hold back in direct contacts with Russia. He will not hold back in public statements, ”said Psaki.

When asked to comment on the Russian ambassador's summons to Moscow, the spokeswoman said the Biden administration "intends to take a different approach to relations with Russia than the previous administration."

“We will be straightforward and specific in areas where we start to have concerns,” she added.

The Biden administration has expressed interest in working with Moscow on issues of mutual interest, such as a new nuclear arms treaty or climate change mitigation.

Biden recently commissioned the release of a declassified version of the Russian intelligence conclusion that “Russian state media, trolls and online intermediaries, including those directed by Russian intelligence, published disparaging stories about President Biden, his family and the Democratic Party ... including stories about his son ".

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