Russia recalls envoy over Joe Biden's killer comment on Putin

Russia's decision to bring Anatoly Antonov back to Moscow was announced shortly after US President Joe Biden accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of being a “killer”, and warned that he would “pay a price” for his alleged meddling in the US elections.

Biden made these comments after a declassified US intelligence report linked Putin to operations which aimed at helping Donald Trump win last November’s presidential election.

Russia had consistently denied the longstanding allegations of meddling in US elections as baseless.

The Russian embassy in Washington said in a statement that Antonov will be leaving the US on Saturday and upon his arrival in Moscow will be discussing “ways to rectify Russia-US ties, which are in crisis” with officials.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said, "The main thing for us is to determine the ways in which the difficult Russian-American relations that Washington has led into a dead end in recent years could be rectified.

Moscow’s ties with the West, which have already been languishing at its lowest in the post-Cold War period since 2014, have come under renewed pressure over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.

Russia has dismissed calls by Western powers for Navalny’s release, calling it unacceptable meddling in it's domestic affairs.

Meanwhile, an AFP report said Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed Joe Biden for his remark saying "We always see in another person our own qualities and think that he is the same as us."

He reiterated Russia's stand that Moscow wouldn't cut off its ties with Washington but work with the United States on terms beneficial to Russai, the reported added.