Russia Recalls Envoy After Biden Says "Killer" Putin Will "Pay A Price"

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti that "responsibility for further deterioration of Russian-American ties fully rests with the United States."

Russia called its US ambassador back to Moscow for consultations on Wednesday after Joe Biden described Vladimir Putin as a "killer" who would "pay a price" for election meddling, prompting the first major diplomatic crisis for the new American president. In an interview with ABC News, Biden was asked about a US intelligence report that the Russian leader tried to harm his candidacy in the November 2020 election and promote that of Donald Trump. "He will pay a price," the 78-year-old Biden said. Asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and other rivals, is a "killer," Biden said: "I do."