Russia on Wednesday called back its United States Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to Moscow for consultations after US President Joe Biden said...
Russia on Wednesday called back its United States Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to Moscow for consultations after US President Joe Biden said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would “pay a price” for election meddling, reported AFP.
In an interview to ABC News, Biden was asked about an intelligence report that said Putin tried to harm his candidacy in the November presidential elections and promote that of former US President Donald Trump.
Biden replied: “He will pay a price.” When asked if he believed that Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and other rivals, was a “killer”, Biden said: “I do.”
The US has imposed sanctions on Russia for the poisoning of Navalny, who is in prison, reported AP.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, however, did not cite specific reasons for Antonov’s return. She said that relations with the US “are in a difficult state, which Washington has brought to a dead end in recent years”.
“We are interested in preventing their irreversible degradation, if the Americans are aware of the associated risks,” she added.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti, a state-owned news agency, that the “responsibility for further deterioration of Russian-American ties fully rests with the United States”.
In Washington, the State Department noted the move by Russia and said...
