US-Russia ties 'close to rupture'

MOSCOW, Mar 22 (Reuters): Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan to tell him that President Joe Biden's calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" had pushed bilateral ties to the brink of collapse.

Biden said last week that Putin was a "war criminal" for sending tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine and targeting civilians.

"Such statements from the American president, unworthy of a statesman of such high rank, put Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture," the ministry said in a statement.

The Kremlin earlier described the comments as "personal insults" against Putin.

The ministry also told Sullivan that hostile actions against Russia would receive a "decisive and firm response."

State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed that Sullivan met with Russian officials. But he declined to say whether the US envoy told them that the United States stands behind the accusation Biden levelled at Putin.