Vladmir Putin has wished Joe Biden “good health” as Kremlin officials lashed out at the “demented, hysterical” US president and promised reprisals if he does not apologise for describing his Russian counterpart as a “killer”.

Putin said that Biden’s remarks reflected the US’s own past and current problems.

Moscow had on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Washington after Biden agreed during a TV interview that Putin had orchestrated murders. In the same interview Biden said his Russian counterpart would soon “pay a price” for alleged election meddling.

The spat comes after Washington imposed sanctions over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and declassified an intelligence report stating that Putin directed interference in the 2020 US presidential election, pushing relations between the countries to new lows.