Vladimir Putin On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said he was a “crazy SOB” — a direct stab at the Russian leader that prompted an angry reaction from the Kremlin.
Biden was also targeted in comments at a fundraiser in San Francisco former President Donald Trumpmocks his likely opponent in November’s presidential election for comparing himself Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalnywho died last week.
Discussing climate change, Biden made a short digression to point out that the world should be worried Putin’s repeated nuclear threats Against the West.
“We have that crazy SOB, that Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict,” he said. “But the current threat to humanity is climate.”
In response, the Kremlin criticized Biden for what it described as an attempt to sound like a “Hollywood cowboy.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It is unlikely that the president of the United States would use such statements against the head of another state to insult our president, President Putin.” “But it demeans those who use that kind of vocabulary.”
“This is a shame for the country itself, I mean the United States,” Peskov added in a statement to a state television reporter.
Biden tends to go off-script during the campaign, and in recent months has used these informal events to criticize China, the Republican Party and US ally Israel.
However, in recent days, he has increased his criticism of Trump, especially his approach to Putin.
At a fundraiser Tuesday night, Biden criticized Trump for comparing his situation to that of Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony. Biden and other Western leaders point the finger at the Kremlin.
“He compares himself to Navalny and says that because our country became a communist country, he was persecuted the way Navalny was persecuted – where the hell is that from?” “If I stand here for 10, 15 years, before and I say this and you all think I have to stick with it – it’s amazing.”
The Kremlin has denied involvement in Navalny’s death and has criticized the United States and others for rushing to judgment before any facts are known. Navalny’s family accused Putin of keeping his body as a cover-up.
It’s the Biden administration is preparing to announce a major sanctions package Friday to hold Russia accountable.
At a fundraiser in San Francisco, Biden said nine heads of state from other countries urged him to defeat Trump for the sake of democracy.
“When I leave the meetings, the head of state will come up and find an excuse to say: ‘You must win.’ Not because I’m too special,” he said. “You have to win, because if the other one wins, my democracy is at stake,” he added, recalling the conversations.
Biden also suggested that the current generation of Republican congressmen and women are “worse” than the racist, segregationist lawmakers he worked with in the past.
“I have served with real racists; I served with Strom Thurmond,” the president said, referring to the former segregationist senator from South Carolina. “I’ve served with all these guys who have put up terrible records in the race. But guess what? These people are worse,” he added. referring to current Republicans. “These people do not believe in basic democratic principles.”
Biden, 81, who has faced questions about his age and memory, has a history of using blunt language when talking about other world leaders.
In 2021, he agreed with an interviewer that Putin was a “murderer” and last year branded Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator” – comments that caused a major diplomatic setback.
Putin said last week that his country would prefer to see the “more experienced” Biden in the White House for a second term than Trump.