Russia recalls its ambassador in Washington from the United States to Moscow “for consultations” after President Joe Biden's offensive remarks toward Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
As the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, the ambassador “was invited to Moscow for consultations held with the aim of analyzing what to do and where to move in the context of relations with the United States.”
“The new American Administration has been in power for almost two months, the symbolic milestone of 100 days is just around the corner, and this is a good reason to try to evaluate what the Biden team is doing well and what is not so good. For us, the main thing is to determine what could be the ways to straighten the Russian-American ties that are in a difficult state, which Washington has essentially brought to a dead end in recent years. We are interested in preventing their irreversible degradation if the Americans are aware of the risks associated with this,” the foreign policy department reports.
Russian Foreign Ministry Speaker Maria Zakharova called the situation unprecedented. “I’ll just say that I don’t remember anything like that,” she said.
“A decision was made, exceptional for diplomatic practice, to summon the Russian Ambassador to Washington A.I. Antonov to Moscow for consultations. Adopted, undoubtedly, as a response to Biden’s irresponsible, deliberately offensive and, in my opinion, orchestrated attack on the Russian President, made in an interview with ABC. Inviting the ambassador to come home for consultations is a diplomatic move, indicating a very serious reaction - in this case, from Moscow to political and rhetorical aggression on the part of Washington. This is the answer to Biden, and the US administration would be better off thinking about the possible consequences,” said Senator Alexei Pushkov.