Russia recalls envoy after Joe Biden says 'killer' Putin will 'pay the price'
Moscow, Mar 18: Russia is recalling its ambassador to the United States for consultations, the foreign ministry said Wednesday without citing a specific reason.
The move to bring Anatoly Antonov to Moscow comes amid rising tensions with President Joe Biden's administration, which has imposed sanctions over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is now in prison.
It also 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.
In a television interview aired on Wednesday, Biden was asked whether he thought Putin is a killer and said I do.
(Putin) will pay a price, Biden said, asked about the declassified report.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova did not cite specific reasons for Antonov's return but said that relations are in a difficult state, which Washington has brought to a dead end in recent years."
"We are interested in preventing their irreversible degradation, if the Americans are aware of the associated risks, she added.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
