Russian President Vladimir Putin challenged President Biden to an on-air debate after Biden referred to the Russian leader as a “killer.”
“I’ve just thought of this now,” Putin said to a Russian state television reporter on Thursday. “I want to propose to President Biden to continue our discussion, but on the condition that we do it basically live, as it’s called, without any delays and directly in an open, direct discussion. It seems to me that would be interesting for the people of Russia and for the people of the United States.”
In response, the White House said it has no plans to hold a future meeting with Putin and that Biden is “quite busy.”
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The relationship between Biden and Putin has grown tense over the past few days after Biden referred to the Russian leader as a “killer” in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“It takes one to know one,” Putin said in response to Biden’s comment. “I would say to him: I wish you good health.”
A Putin spokesperson added that Biden’s words amounted to a “very bad statement by the U.S. president” that illustrated that “he doesn’t want to normalize relations.”
“We will proceed accordingly,” the spokesperson added, saying that “there was nothing like that in history.”
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Also this week, U.S. intelligence agencies accused Russia of pushing misinformation aimed to help former President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Biden said Putin will “pay a price” if that turns out to be true.
“We had a long talk, he and I,” Biden said. “I know him relatively well, and the conversation started off — I said, ‘I know you, and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.’”
