Russia has warned of a breach of its relations with Washington and summoned the US ambassador in Moscow for an official protest over Joe Biden’s labelling of Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, as the US president held talks with European allies on efforts to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden talked to the leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy on Monday as part of his effort to maintain a unified front to Moscow, amid signs of cracks within the EU on how far to go in imposing sanctions on Russian oil and gas.
The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned the US ambassador, John Sullivan, for a meeting over “recent unacceptable statements” by Biden about Putin, days after Biden called Putin a “war criminal” amid the bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
The ministry said in a statement “it was emphasised that remarks such as these by the American president, which are unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breach”.
The US and the Soviet Union maintained diplomatic relations from 1933, throughout the cold war, but relations between Washington and Moscow have become far more volatile since Putin embarked on a campaign of territorial expansion.
Ned Price, the state department spokesperson, derided the Kremlin’s complaints about Biden’s language in the context of a brutal war.
“It’s awfully rich to hear a country speak about ‘inappropriate comments’ when that same country is engaged in mass slaughter, including strikes and attacks that have resulted in civilian lives [lost], strikes and attacks, barrages that have levelled civilian cities, an invasion of 100,000 plus forces against a largely civilian population,” Price said.
The Pentagon on Monday echoed the president’s accusations.
“We continue to see indiscriminate attacks against civilians which we believe in many cases is intentional,” John Kirby, the defence…