The Kremlin accused President Biden on Thursday of attempting “to look like a Hollywood cowboy” after he called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB,” according to Reuters.
“The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. “But it debases those who use such vocabulary.”
Peskov argued the remark was “probably some kind of attempt to look like a Hollywood cowboy,” the news wire added. “But honestly I don’t think it’s possible.”
The comments come one day after Biden, speaking about climate change at a fundraiser in San Francisco, referred to Putin as the acronym standing for “son of a bitch.”
“This is the last existential threat, it is climate. We have a crazy SOB like that guy Putin, and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity is climate,” Biden said Wednesday.
Pesvok, in a separate statement provided by Russian state media TASS, called Biden’s remarks “boorish,” and contended they bring “shame” upon the U.S.
Putin, for his part, smiled sarcastically when asked about the remarks on Russia state television, per Reuters.
“We are ready to work with any president,” Putin said. “But I believe that for us, Biden is a more preferable president for Russia, and judging by what he has just said, I am absolutely right.”
The Russian president’s comments echo the argument he made last week, when he called Biden “more predictable” than the GOP front-runner, former President Trump.
Asked by journalist Pavel Zarubin about his preference for the 2024 election, Putin said, “Biden. He has more experience, and he is more predictable, too, an old school politician,” according to remarks provided by the Kremlin this week.
“That said, we will work with any leader of the United States who has the trust of the American people,” he continued.
The Hill reached out to the White House for further comment.
The back-and-forth between the two leaders comes less than a week after Biden pinned the blame on Putin for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, also blamed Putin for her husband’s death, and claimed her husband was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. The Kremlin has denied the accusation of poisoning, according to multiple media reports.