President Biden Calls President Putin A Butcher, Kremlin: A State Leader Must Control His Emotions

President Joe Biden and President Vladimir putin meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden's personal insults of Russian President Vladimir Putin narrowed opportunities to improve relations between Moscow and Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"However, a leader of a country must control his emotions," said Peskov commenting on the latest statement from the US President, quoted from TASS March 27.

"And, of course, every time such personal insults (say they) narrow the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current (US) administration. This needs to be watched out for," Peskov stressed.

The Kremlin spokesman was surprised that Biden, who was an enthusiastic supporter of the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, made such a statement against Putin.

"After all, he is the one who once demanded, while speaking on state TV that Yugoslavia be bombed. That's right, Yugoslavia was bombed. He demanded to kill people," Peskov told TASS.

"Therefore, it must be strange to hear such things from him," he said

Peskov's remarks came after President Biden called President Putin a butcher, when asked by reporters on the sidelines of his visit to a refugee and volunteer center in Warsaw, Poland yesterday.

On the sidelines of the visit, President Biden was asked by reporters his assessment of what is happening in Ukraine and President Putin, seeing the refugees at Narodowy Stadium.

Biden replied: "He's a butcher," CNN reported.

During a brief question-and-answer session, President Biden recounted how he had been to places like this in his life but said he was always surprised by the "depth and power of the human soul."

"Amazing, amazing. Look at all those little kids. Wanted to hug, just wanted to say thank you. I mean, that, makes you so proud," he said. Poland alone is known to have received about 2 million of the approximately 3.5 million people who fled Ukraine.

This is the second time President Biden has given President Putin a harsh assessment, during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As previously reported, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned the United States Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan on Monday to inform him that President Joe Biden's assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal has pushed bilateral relations to the brink of collapse.

President Joe Biden some time ago, President Putin is a 'war criminal' for sending tens of thousands of troops to attack Ukraine and target civilians.

"Such statements from the American President, unfit for a high-ranking statesman, put Russian-American relations on the verge of collapse," the ministry said in a statement.

The Kremlin, through its spokesman Dmitry Peskov, described the comments as a "personal insult" to President Putin.