While a journalist asked Joe Biden if he thought Vladimir Putin was “a killer”, he replied in the affirmative.
Joe Biden said he thought his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was “a killer”, and promised he would pay “the price”, immediately sparking outrage in Moscow.
“Do you think he’s a killer?” The question of George Stephanopoulos, star journalist of the American channel ABC, is direct, and the answer of the President of the United States leaves no room for doubt: “Yes”, he acquiesced in this interview broadcast Wednesday.
“You will soon see the price he will pay,” he added.
He did not say whether he was thinking of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny’s poisoning in August, blamed by the United States on Russia. The opponent was imprisoned on his return to Russia after five months of convalescence in Germany, and Washington is demanding his release.
“Hysteria due to impotence”
In a first reaction from a high-ranking Russian official, the president of the lower house of Parliament and close to Vladimir Poutine denounced “hysteria due to impotence”.
“Putin is our President and an attack on him is an attack on our country,” Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram account. “With his statements, Biden insulted the citizens of our country,” added the man who served as number 2 in the Russian presidential administration between 2011 and 2016.
Since his arrival at the White House in January, President Biden has displayed great firmness towards the master of the Kremlin, as opposed to the benevolence often criticized for his predecessor Donald Trump even in his Republican camp.
