Putin won’t deny Biden ‘killer’ claim, says it’s ‘not something I worry about’

Ahead of a summit between the two leaders next week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that President Biden’s characterization of him as a “killer” was “not something I worry about in the least” — though he did not reject the description outright.

“Over my tenure, I’ve gotten used to attacks from all kinds of angles and from all kinds of areas under all kinds of pretext and reasons and of different caliber and fierceness and none of it surprises me,” Putin told NBC News correspondent Keir Simmons. “So, as far as harsh rhetoric, I think that this is an expression of overall U.S. culture,” Putin continued. “Of course, in Hollywood … there are some deep things in Hollywood, macho behavior, which can be treated as cinematic art but that is part of U.S. political culture, where it’s considered normal. By the way, not here [in Russia]. It is not considered normal here.”