A Kremlin spokesperson said Thursday that President Biden’s labeling of Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a war criminal” is “absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the U.S. doesn’t have a track record to justify such statements.
“And most importantly, the head of state which bombed people all over the world for many years and which dropped an atomic bomb on a country that had already been defeated — I mean Hiroshima and Nagasaki — cannot have the right to make them,” Mr. Peskov added, referring to the atomic bombs the U.S. dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.
Mr. Biden on Wednesday escalated his rhetoric toward Russia by calling Mr. Putin a war criminal for the first time.
“I think he is a war criminal,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president was “speaking from his heart,” and noted that the State Department has initiated a process to determine whether Mr. Putin has committed war crimes.
The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure supporting a war crimes investigation into Mr. Putin and Russian forces.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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