Moscow warned that relations with the United States were “on the verge of breaking down” and called the US ambassador to formally protest President Joe Biden for calling Vladimir Putin a “murderous dictator.”
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement Monday referred to Biden’s “recent unacceptable statements” about Putin, as well as Biden’s criticism of the Russian president last week for his invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian government met with US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan and stated that in this conversation “it was emphasized that such statements by the American president, unworthy of a statesman of such a high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of a breakthrough.
Last week, Biden called Putin “a bloody dictator, a real thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.”
He previously called Putin a “war criminal,” which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said was “completely unacceptable and unforgivable.”
The challenge is a sign that relations between Washington and Moscow are deteriorating as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine and the US responds by encouraging Western allies to tighten the economic noose around Russia.
Moscow warned that relations with the United States were “on the verge of breaking down” and called the US ambassador to formally protest President Joe Biden for calling Vladimir Putin a “murderous dictator.”
US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan summoned to the Kremlin for a special meeting in Moscow to complain about President Biden
Tensions between Washington and Moscow are rising as President Joe Biden prepares to travel to Brussels later this week for a special NATO meeting.
Biden is heading to Brussels later this week for a special NATO meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He will also make a stopover in Poland to meet with President Andrzej Duda.
It’s part of a larger diplomatic effort Biden is undertaking to keep allies in line over their financial sanctions, which are hurting the Russian economy as its invasion of Ukraine stalled.
Biden spoke with Western allies – French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – almost an hour before the trip on Monday morning.
The five men will also arrive in Brussels on Thursday for an emergency NATO summit on Ukraine, as well as a G7 meeting. He will also attend a scheduled European Council summit to discuss Ukraine, “including transatlantic efforts to place economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian assistance to victims of violence and address other issues related to the conflict,” the White House said.
At the NATO meeting, Poland will propose a plan for organizing an international peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. Poland has taken in the most refugees from Ukraine as 3.2 million people have fled the war-torn country.
But the United States has dismissed the idea of keeping the peace, saying that President Biden will keep his promise not to put American boots on the ground in Ukraine.
Biden won’t go there either.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president has no plans to visit Ukraine during his visit this week.
“The trip will focus on continuing to rally the world in support of the Ukrainian people and against President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian officials are negotiating but have made no progress on a ceasefire.
American officials questioned Russia’s intentions to negotiate.
“Negotiations appear to be one-sided and the Russians are not taking any opportunity for a negotiated and diplomatic solution,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN on Sunday.
Firefighters fight a large-scale fire at a warehouse after shelling in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine
Firefighters inside the Retroville shopping center after a Russian attack on northwest Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to meet with Putin, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says more progress needs to be made in the talks ahead of time.
Peskov says that “in order to talk about the meeting of the two presidents, you must first prepare, you need to negotiate and agree on the results.”
He adds that “so far there has been no significant movement” in the negotiations and that “there are no agreements that they could fix” at the joint meeting.
The delegations of Ukraine and Russia held several rounds of talks both in person and most recently via video link.