Speaking to journalists on Friday, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was accustomed to hearing Putin’s name being mentioned in US political rhetoric.
“It’s an emotional moment, and there are many emotions in speeches by politicians, including those at the top,” Peskov replied when asked about the remarks made by Biden on Thursday.
“It’s doubtful that such rhetoric is suitable for responsible national leaders.”
The Kremlin spokesman also insisted that such a tone regarding Russia and its head of state was unacceptable.
Moscow interpreted Biden’s speech as a vow to continue attempts to contain Russia, Peskov stated, arguing that this policy is nothing new and has not been particularly successful so far – something that the US leader notably failed to mention.
In his address from the Oval Office, Biden spoke of an “inflection point in history” and the choices that his nation faces amid the Ukraine conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian war. He pledged to prevail over “terrorists” and “dictators.”
“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: they both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy — completely annihilate it,” Biden added.
The US leader declared that military support of Israel and Ukraine was vital to American national interests. He further alleged that Russia had an appetite for conquest, and that Moscow would attack NATO members in Europe if it defeats Ukraine.
The Russian government has not expressed any such intentions. According to Moscow, the hostilities against Ukraine were a last resort after it had exhausted other avenues for curbing NATO’s eastward expansion and mitigating the threat from the Western-backed nationalist government in Kiev. Russia perceives the crisis as a US proxy war against it, in which Ukrainians are used as “cannon fodder.”
Biden further claimed that Ukraine was succeeding and Russia was failing, and urged Congress to appropriate more money to fuel Kiev’s military efforts.
Describing the US as “the essential nation,” Biden suggested that Washington’s “adversaries and competitors” were watching its actions in Ukraine and “would be emboldened” if Kiev were to fail. Endangering “American leadership” and alliances is “just not worth it,” he declared.
