US President Joe Biden. File photoWASHINGTON, Apr 13U.S. President Joe Biden once again took the liberty of slamming Russian leader Vladimir Putin, this time saying he considers the latter's policy toward Ukraine «genocide.» Speaking earlier Tuesday in Iowa, Biden hinted for the first time that he regards Putin's steps in relation to Ukraine as «genocide», while not voicing the name of the President of the Russian Federation directly in this context. After the event, journalists asked Biden to clarify the meaning of these statements.Peskov called Biden's attacks on Putin unworthy of the President of the United States «Yes, I called it genocide, because it is becoming clearer and clearer that Putin is simply trying to wipe out the very idea of the existence of Ukrainians from the face of the earth,» Biden later said, whose words are quoted by journalists from pool of the White House. According to him, the US administration has «more evidence» in favor of such a statement. Biden said that «the actions committed by Russia in Ukraine are terrible.» This is not the first time the US president has allowed himself emotional statements. At the end of March, as part of a visit to Warsaw, Biden, speaking of Putin, made the statement that the Russian leader «cannot remain in power.» Subsequently, the White House hastened to explain these words, assuring that Biden did not call for a change of power in Russia. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said on this occasion that it is not for Biden, but for the people of Russia to decide who will lead the state.TAC: America will have to pay for Biden's insults to PutinWhile visiting a Ukrainian refugee camp on the border between Poland and Ukraine, one of the journalists asked the US president what he thinks of Putin in the context of events in the neighboring country. «He's a butcher, that's what I think,» Biden replied. Prior to that, he twice stated that he considers the President of Russia a «war criminal.» Peskov called such rhetoric unacceptable and unforgivable on the part of the leader of a country whose bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world and which dropped atomic bombs on «a country that has already been defeated «. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Biden's words about Putin indicate that many American politicians «are not doing well» with their conscience. The Russian minister recalled the military interventions by the United States against the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, pointing out that hundreds and hundreds of thousands of deaths were the result of what America called the «struggle to promote democracy.» Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the earlier appeal Biden to organize a tribunal for Ukraine, advised Washington to start with proceedings on «the bombing of Yugoslavia and the occupation of Iraq.» The head of the international committee of the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, recalled that Biden was “one of the authors of the resolution calling for the bombing of Yugoslavia,” noting that, while still a senator, he “practically flaunted that he proposed to bomb Belgrade.” Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine 24 February. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
