Russian President fired back at American counterpart's accusation that he’s a killer, saying “it takes one to know one,” as he insisted the US will have to take Russia’s interests into account despite insults.

Iran PressEurope: “I would say to him: I wish you good health,” Putin said Thursday, asked for his response during a televised videoconference celebrating the anniversary of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

He said Moscow would continue to work with Washington in areas of common interest, even as he claimed there were sharp, even biological, differences between Russians and Americans.

“Although they think we are the same as them, we are different people, we have a different genetic and cultural-moral code,” Putin said, citing slavery and the US use of nuclear weapons in World War II. “But we know how to defend our own interests, and we will work with them, but in those areas in which we are interested and on terms we consider favorable for us. And they will have to reckon with that.”

Earlier, US President Joe Biden, in an ABC News interview aired Wednesday, called the Russian President Vladimir Putin a “killer,” adding that he will “pay” for alleged interference in the 2020 US presidential election.

Tensions between Russia and the United States have escalated on several cases over the years, including developments in Ukraine and allegations of involvement in the US presidential election. Washington has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.

Today, Konstantin Kasachev, vice-president of the Russian Federation Council (Senate), said that summoning the ambassador from Washington would not be the only retaliatory measure against the United States.

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