US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “murderer” and assured that he would “pay a price” for his attempt to interfere in the November 2020 presidential election, allegations Moscow denies.
“He will pay a price,” Biden said in an ABC News interview that aired Wednesday.
Asked by famed journalist George Stephanopoulos about what those consequences might be, the president confined himself to saying, “You’ll see soon.”
During the interview, Stephanopoulos brought up a conversation Biden claims to have had with Putin in 2011, when the American was vice president of Barack Obama (2009-2017).
When Biden met Putin, the American claims he told the Russian he thought he had no soul, to which the Kremlin chief is said to have replied, “We understand each other.
Biden made that comment to Putin inspired by an anecdote with then President George W. Bush (2001-2009) in 2001, who claimed to have looked the Russian in the eye and seen his soul, during a meeting.
Biden retold this episode, which he has narrated in less detail during the interview on other occasions, and when asked if he thinks Putin is a murderer, he replied, “Yes, I do.”
“Look,” added Biden, “the most important thing in dealing with foreign leaders, and I’ve interacted with many in my career, is just getting to know each other.”
Biden’s comments come after US intelligence agencies on Tuesday accused Russia and Iran of interfering in the November 2020 presidential election.
In a fifteen-page report, all U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA), concluded that Putin was interfering in favor of now-former President Donald Trump, who lost to Biden in the polls.
In particular, intelligence agencies claim that Putin has “authorized” a “wide variety” of operations to undermine public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbate divisions in the US to help Trump and harm both Biden and the Democratic Party. to harm.
In another similar report published four years ago, US intelligence officials claimed that Putin influenced the November 2016 election because he felt a “clear” preference for Trump, who was elected over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
This time, however, Putin did not order cyber-attacks, and his ‘main tool’ was to use groups linked to Russia to create a series of stories, including false or baseless allegations about Biden.
In response, the Kremlin on Wednesday called US intelligence allegations unfounded and said it was prepared to protect the country’s interests in the face of a possible new round of sanctions.