The Daily Beast
Russia threatens sabotage, blackmail and espionage after Biden calls Putin a ‘killer’
ERIC BARADAT, PAVEL GOLOVKIN / POOL / AFP via Getty ImagesThe Kremlin was indisputably furious over President Joe Biden’s interview on Wednesday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. In contrast to ex-President Donald Trump’s total refusal to condemn the Russian leader for any of his actions, when Biden was asked if he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “murderer”, he replied succinctly: “Mmm-hmm , yea.” On Thursday, Putin seemed shaken and angry as he personally addressed Biden’s comments during a video call with Crimean residents marking the anniversary of his annexation of Ukraine by Russia in 2014. Looking furiously at the camera lens, Putin forced a smile and said de Biden, “I wish you good health.” The charged response can be read as an implicit threat, but it probably refers to the continued efforts of the Kremlin-controlled state media to portray the American president as an unhappy elder suffering from dementia. To achieve this desired impression, Russian state media often show clips of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, attacking the mental capabilities of the United States leader. The campaign to portray President Biden as mentally incapacitated began well before he was elected, and on that front – and on many others – the Russian propaganda narratives matched those of Fox News perfectly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that “there was” was nothing like that in history “and described the statements by the President of the United States as” very bad “. ABC interview aired, Russia called back its US ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, “for consultations” on relations with the United States, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that relations between Moscow and Washington “are going through difficult times”, blaming the United States for taking them “to a dead end.” Putin did not even bother to deny Biden’s “killer” accusation during his Thursday. Russian state TV appearance Instead, the Russian president responded with a comment that roughly translates to “It takes one to know one.” In fact, there is little doubt that Putin is responsible for the bloodshed abroad; in Ukraine, Georgia and Syria, and contr to their own citizens who live on foreign soil. Putin was accused of ordering the assassination attempt on his most eloquent domestic rival, Alexei Navalny, by a military-grade Novichok nerve agent last year. Putin’s government was also linked to the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in England and the murder of a former Chechen separatists commander in Berlin in 2019. Notably, in 2006, Putin signed a law that legalized selective assassinations of “extremists” outside the country. On Wednesday, the United States imposed additional sanctions against Russia for using chemical weapons against dissidents. Most Russian state legislators, experts and state media experts have not even tried to argue against Biden’s perception that President Putin is a “killer”. They just stepped back from the unthinkable idea of openly criticizing Putin, which is not only taboo in his motherland, but also dangerous. “You can think what you want, just don’t say it out loud,” argued politician Sergey Stankevich, appearing in The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev. Vladimir Soloviev, the host of the program, gloomily assumed the significance of the statements by the US president: “This is a declaration of the New Cold War. Of course, we will respond – and we will respond very harshly. ”“ He let it slip, because he is an elderly person. Maybe he doesn’t realize that the American president shouldn’t be saying that kind of thing out loud, ”suggested Russian lawmaker Oleg Morozov. Karen Shakhnazarov, a prominent figure on Russian state TV talk shows, argued against the propaganda tropes about Biden’s alleged mental health. “He is an experienced old wolf,” said Shakhnazarov, “He understands exactly what he is saying … there must be a tough answer.” “This is a scandalous statement,” said Konstantin Zatulin, a member of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, “We shouldn’t be able to stand this. At the very least, Biden should be banned from all relationships. ”Experts and experts from the Russian state media, many of whom miss Biden’s predecessor, commented on Trump finding the“ right words ”when former Fox News presenter Bill O’Reilly asked him if Putin is a killer . Instead of a direct answer, Trump answered O’Reilly with another question, asking him, “Do you think our country is so innocent?” The presenter of the Russian state TV program 60 Minutes, Evgeny Popov, recalled the former president referring to Vladimir Putin as “a great guy”. Popov was bitterly amazed: “An amazing transformation, from” great guy “to” murderer “in such a short time!” With Biden in charge, Russian lawmakers and speakers seemed perplexed as to the exact measures that could be taken against the United States. There was a universal consensus that the answer would be non-linear, asymmetric and decidedly dirty. Experts and experts proposed a variety of measures: from unfair tactics to undermine US vaccines, to impeding the roles of American businessmen operating in Russia, to interrupting cooperation in space and interfering in US relations with Iran and Iran. China. Timofeev, a political commentator for the state-run media Sputnik, suggested “launching the kompromat” against Biden. Timofeev argued that, after Biden’s comments on Putin, the US ambassador to the Russian Federation John Sullivan “should have holes in the knees of his pants”, begging the Kremlin for forgiveness. “Revenge is a dish that is served cold,” threatened Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Ministry of Defense’s public advisory board. During his appearance in 60 Minutes, Korotchenko proposed to radically increase the number of spies residing in the United States. He said angrily: “We need to grab them by the udders and get access to all the information whenever we need it. That will be the best answer. “” They crossed the red line, “said Dmitry Abzalov, Director of the Strategic Communications Center, at 60 Minutes. The show’s host, Evgeny Popov, ominously predicted: “The world will never be the same again.” Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top news in your inbox every day. Subscribe now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper into the stories that matter to you. To know more.