Kremlin fires back at Biden over Putin comments at NATO summit

“We continue to consider it absolutely unacceptable and impermissible behavior for a head of state to make such disrespectful remarks about other heads of state,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters.

“I am referring to his remarks about President Putin.”

In his first solo press conference of the year, Biden said Putin instilled fear in Europe. The president had just concluded days of meetings with international leaders, including allies of Ukraine.

“For those who thought NATO’s time had passed, they got a rude awakening when Putin invaded Ukraine,” Biden stated Thursday, adding, “Some of the oldest and deepest fears in Europe roared back to life because, once again, a murderous madman was on the march.”

Peskov stressed the remark does not make Biden look good.

“This is something that we pay direct attention to and something that is absolutely unacceptable to us,” he added.

During his speech, Biden also slammed former President Donald Trump for the relationship he has with Putin.

Shortly before beginning his press conference, Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”, when introducing him at a NATO event. He quickly corrected himself.

Later in his remarks, he accidentally said his second-in-command was “Vice President Trump”.

Peskov stressed the “whole world paid attention” to his gaffes.

Both the NATO summit and the press conference were seen as critical moments for Biden, who faces a growing number of calls for him to step aside and let someone else take on former President Trump in the election this fall.

Peskov told reporters that it wasn’t Russia’s place to have an official comment.

“It is understandable that they probably received such a wide resonance given the context of the internal political discussions that we are now witnessing in the U.S.,” he said of Biden’s gaffes, “but it’s not our topic, it’s an internal U.S. topic.”

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said the NATO summit promised Ukraine an “irreversible path” into the abyss, but not to the alliance.

“The Kiev regime was eventually promised an ‘irreversible path’ to the alliance [at the summit]. Frankly speaking, I do not know what this irreversible path to the alliance looks like, but I guess that the only emerging association is ‘the path to the edge of a cliff’,” the diplomat stated during a briefing.

According to Zakharova, Ukraine “is still kind of welcome in the alliance, however it is obvious that all this looks more like a game not with Ukraine, but in the remains of Ukraine”. The summit’s decision on Ukraine’s membership is designed to consolidate the Ukrainians to go on fighting, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added.