Russia said that US President Joe Biden is having no interest in improving ties with Russia after he referred to Vladimir Putin as a "killer", sparking the biggest crisis in years between the former Cold War rivals.
A spate of disagreements has led to the erosion of Russia's relationship with the West, but the relations plunged to new depths after Biden agreed that Putin was a "killer" in a US television interview.
In the interview with ABC News on Wednesday Biden said Putin will "pay a price" for trying to undermine Biden's candidacy in the US election in 2020.
Asked if he thought Putin is "a killer", Biden said, "I do".
"These statements from the president of the United States are very bad," Putin's spokesman Dmirty Peskov told reporters.
"It is clear that he does not want to get the relationship with our country back on track, and we will proceed from that," he added.
Russia has recalled its ambassador to the United States “for consultations,” the country's foreign ministry said Wednesday, just hours after comments from President Joe Bidencriticizing Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova did not cite specific reasons for recalling ambassador Anatoly Antonov, but indicated that relations between Moscow and Washington “have been going through hard times,” blaming Washington for bringing them “to a blind alley.”