WASHINGTON – President of United States of America, in an interview to ABC News has said “Putin is a killer and he will pay the price for meddling in the US elections”.
The United States’ chief intelligence office on Tuesday released an unclassified report on foreign meddling in the 2020 election that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw sweeping efforts aimed at “denigrating” President Joe Biden’s candidacy.
Biden said that he and Putin know each other very well and they both had a talk about it, but did not elaborate his plans when he said Putin is “going to pay”.
Furthermore, Biden did say, though, that it was possible to “walk and chew gum at the same time for places where it’s in our mutual interest to work together.” He was referring to his decision to extend an arms agreement with Russia in January.
After Biden’s interview, Russia’s ruble sank as much as 1.6% to 74 per dollar, its biggest intraday loss since Feb. 25. The benchmark MOEX index also extended declines, and was down 2.1% as of 2:37 p.m. in Moscow. Ten-year bond yields were up three basis points at 6.84%, near their highest in a year.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament and a longtime Putin ally, dismissed Biden’s comments as “hysterics born of helplessness”.
Many officials in Putin’s government and his associates already live under U.S. sanctions due to an earlier punishment for election interference, attacks on political opponents and Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
It is unclear how Biden plans for Putin to “pay the price”, analysts believe that the U.S. may sanction more Putin associates.
Earlier Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the U.S. intelligence report as “absolutely groundless.”
“It’s regrettable that the beginning of each presidential term in the U.S. seems to be linked to imposing sanctions on Russia,” he said.
Putin has vociferously denied allegations on his government. While the Kremlin hopes for improved relations with the US under the Biden administration, officials have few illusions that ties will get much better.
