Putin Challenges Biden to a Debate

President Biden has declined the trap.

Vladimir Putin President of Russia arrives for the second day of the Summit at the Sandton International Convention Centre. The BRICS Leaders’ Summit is convened annually with discussions representing spheres of political and socio-economic coordination, in which member countries have identified several business opportunities, economic complementarities and areas of cooperation. July 26, 2018. [Photo: GCIS]

Russian President Vladimir Putin wished U.S. President Biden “good health” and challenged him to live debate Thursday after the American president described the Russian leader as a “killer.”

President Biden said Putin “will pay a price” for campaigns to influence the 2020 election, in an interview that aired Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“We had a long talk, he and I, and relatively well,” Biden said. “And the conversation started — ‘I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, be prepared.”

Biden’s remarks were made the same day the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an unclassified assessment of foreign influence operations targeting the U.S. election. When ABCs Host George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if he thought Putin was “a killer,” the President responded, “Mhmm. I do.”

Hours after Biden’s remarks, Putin recalled his ambassador to the U.S. for “consultations.” When asked about Biden’s comments during a video call Thursday aired on Russian state television, Putin said he wished Biden good health but said that Biden’s comments reflected America’s own troubled past.

“I would tell him: ‘Be well,’” Putin said. “I wish him health, and I say that without any irony or…