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On Thursday, a senior Russian lawmaker warned that Moscow would follow up on its move to recall its ambassador in Washington with other moves if the United States fails to offer an explanation and apology for President Joe Biden s remarks. Biden was asked in a television interview whether he thought Putin is a killer and said, “I do”. The interview was aired on Wednesday. Konstantin Kosachev is a deputy speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament. Kosacheve said, “Such assessments are inadmissible for a statesman of his rank. Such statements are unacceptable under any circumstances. They inevitably lead to a sharp exacerbation of our bilateral ties”. On Wednesday, Russia announced it is recalling its ambassador to the United States for consultations.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the US for bringing bilateral ties to a “dead end”. Kosacheve added, “We are interested in preventing their irreversible degradation if the Americans are aware of the associated risks”. Commenting on the Russian move Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki emphasized and said, “We will be direct, we will speak out on areas where we have concerns, and it will certainly be, as the president said last night certainly, the Russians will be held accountable for the actions that they have taken”. The exchange of tough statements comes on the heels of a declassified report from the US national intelligence director’s office that finds President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election.

President Biden said, “Putin will pay a price”. On Thursday, Kosachev warned that Russia’s response wouldn’t be limited to recalling the Russian ambassador if the American side fails to offer an explanation and excuse. He wouldn’t elaborate on what other action the Kremlin may take. Tensions between both countries have now increased following recently declassified reports on Russia’s suspected attempts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, US condemnation over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and Joe Biden calling Vladimir Putin a killer in an interview. On Wednesday, Russia called its US ambassador Anatoly Antonov back home for consultations, as Moscow mulls avoiding what its foreign ministry called an irreversible degradation of relations with America during the early days of the Biden administration.