The Kremlin has hit back at US President Joe Biden's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a "war criminal," calling the assertion "unacceptable and unforgivable."
"Our president is a very wise, far-sighted, and cultured international personality," said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the Kremlin, on Thursday, according to the news agency Interfax.
Biden had used the phrase on Wednesday for the first time with reference to Putin, after the US government had hitherto avoided labelling Russian actions in Ukraine as war crimes.
Peskov said that Biden did not have the right to use such words, especially given that he was president of a country "that has been bombing people all over the world for years," and had dropped a nuclear bomb on a country that had already been defeated.
"I am referring to Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said Peskov.
The US had dropped a nuclear bomb on each of the Japanese cities in August 1945.
