KEY POINTS
  • President Joe Biden says he believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a killer with no soul.
  • Biden vowed that Putin soon "will pay a price" for interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and trying to boost the reelection chances of then-President Donald Trump.
  • Trump for years refused to criticize Putin for meddling in his 2016 election campaign against Hillary Clinton, and told Fox News, "You think our country's so innocent?" when Bill O'Reilly called Putin a killer.
This combination of pictures created on March 17, 2021 shows US President Joe Biden(L) during remarks on the implementation of the American Rescue Plan in the State Dining room of the White House in Washington, DC on March 15, 2021, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin during his working visit to Ivanovo, a town some 300 km outside Moscow, on March 6, 2020.

President Joe Biden says he believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a killer with no soul — and vowed that Putin soon "will pay a price" for interfering in the 2020 U.S. election and trying to boost the reelection chances of then-President Donald Trump.

Biden said he warned Putin last month, in his first call to the Russian president after taking office, that he would retaliate if that meddling was confirmed.