Russia called its US ambassador Anatoly Antonov back home on Wednesday 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 the two nations are high, following recently declassified reports on Russia’s suspected attempts to interfere in the 2020 election, US condemnation over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and Joe Biden calling Vladimir Putin a “killer” in an interview on ABC News on Tuesday.

“The new American administration has been in power for two months, and a symbolic 100-day anniversary is just round the corner, which is an appropriate milestone to try and assess what the Biden team is successful in, and what it’s not,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement, according to Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news service.

A pause would also allow Americans to “acknowledge the associated risks” of the fraying relationship between the two nations, she added, which “Washington has itself sent into a stalemate in recent years.”

Mr Biden sounded a similar tone during the ABC interview, which aired on Wednesday. Following questions from George Stephanopoulos about investigations into Russia-linked cyber attacks and an intelligence report linking the Kremlin to election-related online interference that promoted Donald Trump and right-wing conspiracy theories, the host asked whether Mr Biden thought the Russian president was a “killer.”

“I do,” he responded, and threatened some form of retaliation.