On Wednesday, Russia called its US ambassador Anatoly Antonov back home for consultations, as Moscow mulls avoiding what its foreign ministry called an irreversible degradation of relations with America during the early days of the Biden administration.

Tensions between both countries are increasing following recently declassified reports on Russia’s suspected attempts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, US condemnation over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and Joe Biden calling Vladimir Putin a killer in an interview on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova said, “The new American administration has been in power for two months, and a symbolic 100-day anniversary is just around the corner, which is an appropriate milestone to try and assess what the Biden team is successful in and what it’s not”.Point to be noted that the recent situation allows Americans to acknowledge the associated risks of the fraying relationship between both countries.

She added, “Washington has itself sent into a stalemate in recent years”.

The host asked whether Biden thought the Russian president was a killer and threatened some form of retaliation.

The back-and-forth comes as Washington once again contends with the fallout from a suspected Russian influence campaign.It is noteworthy that a newly declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has indicated that Russia once again conducted a sweeping social media influence effort during the 2020 US presidential election.

On Monday, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki informed reporters and said, “We call on Russian authorities to release all those detained for exercising their universal rights and for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny”.

The new president’s forceful denunciation of Russia’s newest manifestation of political repression marks a sharp departure from his predecessor.

The former president Trump didn’t say in September 2020 that Navalny had been poisoned by Russian government agents.

Psaki also reiterated calls for Russia to cooperate with the international investigation into Navalny’s poisoning in August 2020 and to credibly explain the use of a chemical weapon, Novichok, on one of its own citizens.Point to be noted that Navalny has recovered from the attack after treatment in a German hospital, returned to Moscow on a flight on 17th January, and was promptly arrested.

Thousands of pro-Navalny protesters were detained by police over the weekend for demonstrating against his arrest, but most have been released.

Trump jumped on reporters in September for asking him about Navalny’s poisoning and whether the Russian government had been behind the attack.