Russia Pulls Ambassador from US
The newly elected United States President Joe Biden has vowed to be tough on Russia (Wikimedia Commons).
Moscow pulled its ambassador out of the United States on March 17 following statements from President Joe Biden, who said that he thought Putin was a “killer” and that he would “pay a price” for interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Biden made these statements on his first nationally-broadcasted interview since taking office in January. At the time of the statement, he was responding to a recent U.S. government report that had found evidence of Russian interference in the 2020 election.
The report, published on March 11, claims that Putin was “aware and probably directed” these operations, which were "aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating socio-political divisions in the U.S.”
Biden has faced strong backlash for his language. "These are very bad statements by the President of the United States. He definitely does not want to improve relations with us, and we will continue to proceed from this," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "There hasn't been anything like this in history."
Putin himself responded to these claims, insinuating the president was projecting: "In childhood, when we argued with each other, we said: 'He who calls names is called that himself.' This is no coincidence, this is not just a childish joke, it has a very deep psychological meaning."
Moscow vehemently denied all the allegations made by Biden and the report. The Russian embassy in Washington, D.C. claimed that the 2020 election report is unreliable, and only proves the “self-righteousness” of the U.S. intelligence agencies: "No facts or specific evidence of such claims were provided." The statement continues to argue that Washington is practicing “‘megaphone diplomacy,’ with the main goal to maintain a negative image of Russia.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also put out a statement in light of its decision to recall Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov. “The most important thing for us is to identify ways of rectifying Russia-U.S. relations, which have been going through hard times as Washington has, as a matter of fact, brought them to a blind alley," said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
In defense of Biden, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden will continue to speak honestly about the Russian regime, and will not “hold back” in his public criticism of Putin.
Biden’s hardline approach to Russia stands in stark contrast to Trump, who was criticized for his refusal to criticize Russia on several occasions. The recent 2020 election report revealed that Russian interference aimed to help Trump and hinder Biden. "Russian leaders viewed President Biden's potential election as disadvantageous to Russian interests and that this drove their efforts to undermine his candidacy," the report declares.
Biden has expressed a desire to work with Russia in some respects; however, it is clear that his term will be a change in tone from Trump’s conciliatory approach.