Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had summoned its Washington ambassador to Moscow to review its ties with the United States, but stressed it wanted to prevent an “irreversible deterioration” in relations.
The development came after US President, Joe Biden vowed that Russia would “pay a price” for meddling in US elections while he equally agreed during the assessment that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is a “killer.”
In a statement made by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, the move was pertinent.
“The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has been invited to come to Moscow for consultations conducted with the aim of analysing what should be done and where to go in the context of ties with the United States,” she said.
Zakharova said the most important thing for Moscow was to determine how to mend Russian-US ties “that have essentially been driven by Washington into a dead end in recent years”.
She said Russia was interested in preventing the bilateral relations’ “irreversible deterioration if Americans understand the risks associated with it.”
The foreign ministry did not reference Biden’s remarks on Putin, but said Moscow wanted to analyse the results of Biden’s first 100 days in office.
In an interview with ABC News broadcast on Wednesday, Biden was asked about a declassified US intelligence report that said Putin tried to harm his candidacy in the November 2020 election and promote that of his rival Donald Trump.
“He will pay a price,” the 78-year-old Biden said.
Asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of poisoning political opponents, is a “killer,” Biden said: “I do.”
The statement marked a stark contrast with Trump’s steadfast refusal to say anything negative about the Russian president.
Also on Wednesday, the US government announced that it would expand the export restrictions imposed on Russia earlier this month as punishment for the poisoning of jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.
The new measures, effective Thursday, prevent export to Russia of more items controlled for national security reasons, including some technology, software and parts, the Commerce Department said. [AFP]
