President Vladimir Putin said he and US President Joe Biden should hold talks in coming days that would be broadcast live after Mr Biden said he thought the Russian leader was a killer and bilateral ties sank to a new post-Cold War low.
Mr Putin, speaking on television earlier on Thursday, scathingly responded to Mr Biden’s remarks with the comment that "it takes one to know one".
In an ABC News interview broadcast on Wednesday that prompted Russia to recall its Washington ambassador for consultations, Mr Biden said “I do” when asked if he believed Mr Putin was a killer.
Mr Putin said he last spoke to Mr Biden over the phone at the US president’s request and now he proposed they had another conversation, on Friday or Monday, to be held by video-link and broadcast live.
“I want to offer President Biden to continue our discussion but on the condition that we do it live, online, without any delays but in an open, direct discussion,” Mr Putin said, asked in a television interview about Mr Biden’s comments. The two leaders last spoke by telephone on 26 January soon after Mr Biden took office.
Mr Putin said he was ready to discuss bilateral relations with the United States as well as other issues such as regional conflicts “tomorrow or, say, on Monday,” adding that he will be having a break somewhere in Russia’s Taiga over the weekend.
In his comments, Mr Biden also described Mr Putin as having no soul and said he would pay a price for alleged Russian meddling in the November 2020 US presidential election, something the Kremlin denies.
Russia is preparing to be hit by a new round of US sanctions in the coming days over that alleged meddling as well as over an alleged hack. In a highly unusual move following Mr Biden’s interview, Moscow recalled its ambassador to the United States for consultations.
Suggesting Mr Biden was hypocritical in his remarks, Mr Putin said that every state had to contend with “bloody events” and added Mr Biden was accusing the Russian leader of something he was guilty of himself.
“I remember in my childhood, when we argued in the courtyard with each other we used to say: it takes one to know one. And that’s not a coincidence, not just a children’s saying or joke. The psychological meaning here is very deep,” Mr Putin said.
“We always see our own traits in other people and think they are like how we really are. And as a result, we assess (a person’s) activities and give assessments,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin at a concert for the 7th anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. Russia’s involvement in Ukraine has killed 14,000 people since 2014. Source: EPA/VYACHESLAV PROKOFYEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL MANDATORY CREDIT
'Really bad marks'
Shortly before Mr Putin’s remarks, his spokesman said Mr Biden’s comments showed he had no interest in fixing ties with Moscow, which are strained by everything from Syria to Ukraine to Russia’s jailing of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Mr Biden was quick to extend a key nuclear arms pact with Russia after he took office in January. But his administration has said it will take a tougher line with Moscow than Washington did during former US President Donald Trump’s term in office, and engage only when there is a tangible benefit for the United States.
“These are really bad remarks by the US president. He has clearly shown that he doesn’t want to improve relations with our country,” Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokesman, said. “We will now proceed from that.”
“Of course, this hasn’t happened before in history,” Mr Peskov told reporters, commenting on Mr Biden’s remarks.
Konstantin Kosachev, deputy chairman of parliament’s upper house, said Moscow’s recall of its ambassador was the only reasonable step to take in the circumstances.
“I suspect it will not be the last one if no explanation or apology follows from the American side,” Mr Kosachev said in a Facebook post.
“This kind of assessment (by Mr Biden) is not allowed from the mouth of a statesman of such a rank,” he added, calling it a watershed moment in US-Russia ties.
