Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called on U.S. President Joe Biden to hold virtual talks after the American leader described him as a «killer.»
Speaking on the sidelines of an event marking seven years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Putin invited Biden to hold a «live-broadcast» or «online» discussion in the coming days.
«I want to invite President Biden to continue our discussion, but on condition that we will do this practically live-broadcast, as they say, online,» Putin said in televised remarks, suggesting the conversation take place on Friday or Monday.
He said it would be an «open direct discussion» that would be «interesting» for the people of Russia and the U.S.
In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, when asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of ordering the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, is «a killer,» Biden said: «I do.»
The U.S. president’s remarks sparked the biggest crisis in bilateral relations in years, and later Wednesday Russia ordered its Washington ambassador back to Moscow for urgent consultations in an unprecedented move in recent diplomatic history.
Earlier on Thursday, Putin mocked the U.S. leader’s remarks, saying «it takes one to know one» and wished 78-year-old Biden good health.
Non-Renewable Energy Saved Texas’ Frozen Wind Turbines, Putin Says
Non-renewable energy was used to move frozen wind turbines back online in Texas during last month’s deep freeze, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
An unprecedented winter storm in the southern U.S. state knocked out half of its wind power as well as natural gas and coal capacities. Pundits and state officials said that iced-over wind turbines were exclusively to blame for leaving millions of Texans without power and drinking water, a theory that experts say is misleading.
Putin, whose country is a leading fossil fuel producer, cited Texas as a lesson for how Russia should approach the development of its energy-rich regions.
“Texas froze when it was cold,” Putin said during a videoconference with coal industry leaders.
“They had to use methods that are a far cry from environmental protection to warm the windmills up,” he said.
Putin said the case underscores the need for Russia to “carefully study every possible scenario to ensure the steady growth of our coal-mining regions.”
The Kremlin previously pointed to the Texas power outages when reacting to the Biden administration’s purported plans to place sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline carrying natural gas to Germany.
Putin has regularly criticized global green energy initiatives, despite Russia being a signatory of the Paris climate agreement, saying solar and wind power could “send humanity to caves.”
He has also blamed wind turbines for bird deaths and causing “worms to come out of the soil.”
