Protest lodged with U.S. ambassador to Russia over Biden's remarks about Putin

MOSCOW. March 21 (Interfax) - Russia has lodged a protest with U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan in relation to U.S. President Joe Biden's statements, saying that such remarks, as those made by the U.S. president, have put bilateral relations on the brink of collapse, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On March 21, a demarche was delivered to, and a note of protest was lodged with, U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan, who was summoned to the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, in relation to the recent unacceptable remarks made by U.S. President Joe Biden about the president of Russia," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Such statements on the part of the American president are inconsistent with a state figure of such a high rank and put Russian-American relations on the brink of collapse," the ministry said.

"We have provided a warning that the hostile actions being undertaken against Russia will be resisted in a resolute and firm manner," it said.

In addition, "when discussing the current bilateral agenda, the issue of ensuring normal conditions for the operations of Russian diplomatic missions in the U.S., including guarantees of their uninterrupted functioning, was brought to the ambassador's attention quite forcefully," the ministry said.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow, for its, part said on Telegram that "during the meeting at the Foreign Ministry of Russia, Ambassador John Sullivan urged the government of the Russian Federation to abide by international law and basic human decency and to provide consular access to all U.S. citizens detained in Russia, including those who are currently in pretrial detention."

"We have many times requested consular access to the detained American citizens, but our relevant requests have been denied constantly and unlawfully for the past few months. It is completely unacceptable," the embassy said.