The Kremlin has slammed US President Joe Biden's use of what they call "shameful language" after Russian President Vladimir Putin was called a "crazy SOB" during a San Francisco climate change event.
"This is a huge shame for the country itself... for the US. If a president uses that kind of language, it's shameful," a Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He shockingly claimed that Biden's statement was a poor attempt to seem like a "Hollywood cowboy."
A short report on the Russian-state news agency TASS' website quoted the Kremlin spokesman Peskov as saying: "Biden's words about Putin cannot hurt the Russian president, but they are a disgrace to the United States itself."
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The president's remark was made to a small group of reporters. "We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin but the existential threat to humanity is climate." In response to the surprising comment, Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a staunch Putin ally, said that the true "existential threat" in the world was "useless old geezers, like Biden himself."
Putin accused of surrounding himself with same 'actors' at series of eventsHe went on to accuse the president of being "ready to start a a war with Russia." Peskov said: "The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin. But it debases those who use such vocabulary."
He said it was "probably some kind of attempt to look like a Hollywood cowboy. But honestly I don't think it's possible. Has Mr Putin ever used one crude word to address you? This has never happened. Therefore, I think that such vocabulary debases America itself." He later said to state television reporter: "This is a disgrace for the country itself, I mean the United States."
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This comes after Biden condemned the Russian leader over the death of political competitor Alexei Navalny. The Kremlin has continued to deny any involvement in Navalny's death and said Western claims that Putin was responsible are not acceptable.
Russia and the West continue to be at odds over Russia's invasion of Ukraine two years ago, which has led to extensive sanctions on Russia from the majority of the West. Biden's comments will only worsen bitter U.S.-Russian relations. On Tuesday, Biden announced that the U.S. is planning a major package of sanctions against Russia over Navalny's death and the ongoing Ukraine war.
Expected Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, has consistently expressed admiration for Putin both during his 2017-2021 White House stint and afterward. He also recently compared himself to Navalny, implying that they both had faced politically motivated persecution. "I don't know where the hell this comes from," Biden said in response to Trump's outlandish claims.