"He who says it is!" : we summarize the verbal contests between Biden and Putin in four acts
The Russian president offered Thursday to his American counterpart a discussion broadcast live, after several rather undiplomatic statements on both sides. He has not yet received a response from the White House.
The relationship between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin is not looking the best. Two months after his inauguration, the new president of the United States has in recent days engaged in tense exchanges with his counterpart in the Kremlin. With, to ignite the powder, this "yes" from the American president, Wednesday March 17, in response to a question from a journalist asking him if he thought that the Russian president was a "killer". What throw a cold.
"It's whoever says it who is!", replied Vladimir Putin Thursday, in a schoolyard atmosphere, offering Joe Biden a discussion broadcast live in the coming days. At the same time, Moscow recalled its ambassador to Washington, an unprecedented gesture of defiance since 1998. How did we get here? Franceinfo summarizes this pass of arms step by step.
Act 1: A relationship fresh from the election of Biden
While many world leaders congratulated Joe Biden in the days following the US presidential election on November 4, Vladimir Putin is one of the few to have waited for the vote in the US electoral college on December 15, believing that the results, challenged by Donald Trump, were previously too uncertain.
Emphasizing his "disagreements" with Washington in his message, he however displayed, in his speech, a desire to collaborate with the United States. When one of his ministers called the Biden administration "russophobic" in December, Vladimir Putin was more measured, believing that Russian-American relations would not become more difficult after the departure of Donald Trump. During the first days of the Biden presidency, Vladimir Putin also ratified the uncertain extension of the New Start nuclear arms limitation treaty between the two countries.
Facing him, Joe Biden tried to mark his difference with his predecessor, accused of complacency, even collusion, with Moscow. "I made it clear to President Putin, in a very different way from my predecessor, that the time for the United States to submit to aggressive acts by Russia... was over," he said. he launched in February after his first telephone exchange with his Russian counterpart.
In his first foreign policy speech, the US president accused the Kremlin of "[attacking] our democracies", weeks after the discovery of a cyberattack targeting the United States and in which Russia is suspected of being at the 'origin. Then Washington adopted sanctions against seven Russian officials, in response to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, main opponent of Vladimir Putin, convicted and imprisoned since.
Act 2: Biden calls Putin a "killer"
It was in this context that Joe Biden sparked the ire of Russia, calling Vladimir Putin a "killer" on Wednesday. The American president did not use the term himself, but answered "yes" to this question from journalist George Stephanopoulos on the American channel ABC: "Do you think he's a killer?"
"You will soon see the price he will pay," added the new resident of the White House, without providing further details, or explaining whether his accusation related to the attempted assassination of Alexei Navalny, of which Washington judges Moscow. responsible. He also returned to his telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin: "At the beginning of the conversation, I said to him: 'I know you and you know me. If I come to the conclusion that you have done this, be ready' “, he reported.
Act 3: the Kremlin reacts strongly, the White House maintains
In Russia, the reactions were obviously quick. "Putin is our president and an attack on him is an attack on our country," Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of parliament and close to the head of state, wrote on his Telegram account on Wednesday. "The words of the American president are very bad, he clearly does not want to improve relations with our country," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "It is from this principle that we will now start".
The Russian presidency also announced that it was recalling its ambassador to Washington, who will leave on Saturday for consultations "on ways to correct the Russian-American relationship", according to its embassy. This very symbolic diplomatic gesture had not happened since 1998.
Asked about the possibility that Joe Biden regretted his remarks, his spokesperson, Jen Psaki, assured that this was not the case: "No, the president answered a direct question in a direct way." On the other hand, the US State Department told AFP that it did not plan to recall its own ambassador to Moscow in response to the Russian decision.
Act 4: Putin offers Biden a live explanation
Silent since the day before, the Russian president replied Thursday, in two stages, in remarks broadcast by Russian television. First by sweeping away Joe Biden's accusations, in a surprising form: "It's the one who says it who is! It's not just a childish expression (...), we always see in the other our own characteristics". "We will defend our own interests and we will work with [the Americans] on terms that will be advantageous to us," Vladimir Putin added.
Then he extended a defiant invitation to his American counterpart: "I would like to propose to President Biden that we continue our discussion, but on the condition that we do it live, online as they say." The Russian president judges that "it would be interesting for the Russian people, the American people and for many other countries", and proposed that the public interview be held "without delay", Friday or Monday. Friday afternoon (at midday in Washington), the White House had not yet responded to his proposal.
