At a press briefing on Friday, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on U.S. President Joe Biden’s earlier statement likening the Russian president’s actions to those of Hamas. The press secretary called the comparison “unacceptable” to Russia’s leadership.
Responding to a question about how the Kremlin feels about Biden “trying to draw parallels” between Hamas and Putin, Peskov said that the world is currently in a “potentially dangerous moment”:
Emotions are running high in the statements of various politicians, including high-ranking politicians and state leaders. But this kind of rhetoric is hardly suitable for responsible heads of state, and it’s hardly acceptable to us. We don’t accept such rhetoric in regards to the Russian Federation or in regards to our president.
He added that Biden’s words suggest the U.S. is “going to continue its attempts to apply pressure on and restrain Russia.”
In a speech on Thursday, Joe Biden said that “Hamas and Putin represent different threats” but are similar in that they “both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”