Russia on Wednesday called its ambassador to the United States back to Moscow for consultations on the future of US-Russia ties after US President Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin would "pay a price" for alleged election meddling.
Biden made his comments after a US intelligence report supported longstanding allegations that Putin was behind Moscow's election interference in the United States, an accusation Russia called baseless.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had called its ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, back to Moscow to discuss the future of Russia's relationship with the United States.
The move was designed to ensure bilateral ties did not degrade irreparably, it said.
"The main thing for us is to determine the ways in which the difficult Russian-American relations that Washington has led into a dead end in recent years could be rectified," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on its website.
"We are interested in preventing their irreversible degradation if the Americans recognize the risks involved."