Russia on Monday sought an apology from Fox News over what it said were “unacceptable” comments one of the channel’s anchor made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with US President Donald Trump.
In an interview with Donald Trump, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly described Putin as “a killer” as he asked the U.S. president to explain why he respected his Russian counterpart.
“We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
During the interview, Trump said he would like assistance from Russia in the fight against the Islamic State and added, “Will I get along with them? I have no idea.”
“Putin’s a killer,” O’Reilly said.
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. Well, you think our country’s so innocent?” Trump replied.
Putin and Trump have expressed a desire to build a closer relationship, after the Obama administration imposed sanctions against Russian businesses and individuals for Russia’s alleged attempts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.
