‘Inappropriate’: Erdogan drags Biden over Putin ‘s’ killer’ view | Middle East News

US President Joe Biden has called the Russian president a ‘killer’, with Putin responding as ‘knowing one of them’.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that US President Joe Biden’s comments about Vladimir Putin of Russia, in which he described him as a “killer”, were “inappropriate” and ” that he was not fit for purpose as president ”.

In a TV interview broadcast on Wednesday, Biden said “I will” when asked if he thought the Russian president was killing, dropping diplomatic ties to a new level. Putin replied that he “knows one”.

“Mr Biden’s view of Putin does not suit the head of state,” the Turkish president told reporters following Friday’s prayers in Istanbul, praising Putin for providing a “smart” response. and “classy”.

Ankara and Washington are NATO allies, although Erdogan and Biden have not yet spoken since the latter began in January.

Putin on Thursday mocked the U.S. leader, saying a Russian phrase that roughly translates as “he will know one of them”, and wishing Biden, 78, good health.

“I say this without irony, not as a joke,” said Putin, 68.

Biden is also remembered in Ankara for calling Erdogan an “autocrat” in an interview in late 2019.

Despite their differences over the Syrian war, in which they supported other sides, Erdogan has called Putin a “friend and strategic partner”.

Declining US-Russia ties

In a very unusual move following Biden’s interview, Russia said it was reminding the ambassador to the US for emergency consultations on the future of US-Russia relations.

Russia’s embassy in Washington, DC said in a statement that Anatoly Antonov will leave the USA on Saturday.

Moscow’s ties to the West, which have been mourning at low levels since the Cold War since 2014, have come under renewed pressure in recent months over opposition leader Alexey Navalny, serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in Russia.

Criticism of the Kremlin returned to Russia in January from Germany, where it was recovering from a near-fatal poisoning by what several Western countries said was a zero-agent. He was jailed for parole violations in a decision he and Western nations have denied was politically motivated.

Western powers, including the US, have called for Navalny’s release. Russia has dismissed these calls as inappropriate intervention in domestic matters.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce tightened sanctions on some exports to Russia as a punishment for Navalny poisoning in August last year. Moscow has declined to comment.

It is also believed that the US is preparing further sanctions against Russia for claiming that an accusation was made in the 2020 U.S. election.

“You’ll see soon,” Biden told ABC, when asked what effect Russia would have.

US-Turkey Tensions

Erdogan’s comments reveal a new spell of tensions that have entered Turkey’s relationship with Washington since Biden replaced Donald Trump in the White House in January.

Turkish-US relations are also hampered by Ankara’s purchase of S-400 advanced air defense systems from Moscow, which Washington says threatens NATO’s defenses.

Turkey has said it wants better ties under Biden, but has called on Washington to suspend its support for the Kurdish-led Human Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, under He is alleged to have sided with militants who executed 13 Turks in northern Iraq.

Ankara has been embarrassed by U.S. support for the Kurdish clashes in Syria, which it considers “terrorists”.

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