Biden calls Putin a ‘crazy SOB’ and blasts Trump’s Navalny comments as he campaigns in California

Joe Biden has hit out at Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the wake of the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny last week, also chastising Donald Trump for comparing his own legal affairs to the dissident’s tragic fate.

Speaking at a fundraising event in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday evening, President Biden told his audience: “We have a crazy SOB [son of a b****], that guy, Putin, others. And we always have to be worried about a nuclear conflict. But the existential threat to humanity is climate.”

According to CNN, the Kremlin has already reacted angrily to the comment, with Mr Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov calling the president’s “rude” remarks “a huge disgrace” to the White House and adding: “Clearly, Mr Biden is demonstrating behaviour in the style of a Hollywood cowboy to cater to domestic political interests.”

Recounting Mr Trump’s self-serving and shocking comparison of his own legal “persecution” with Navalny’s suspicious death in an Arctic prison, the president said at the same event: “He’s comparing himself to Navalny and saying that because our country’s become a communist country, he was persecuted, just like Navalny was persecuted.

“Where the hell does this come from?” he asked in exasperation.

“If I stood here 10 to 15 years ago and said all this, you’d all think I should be committed… It’s astounding.”

The Republican frontrunner, who is vying for a return to the White House with four criminal indictments and 91 felony charges hanging over his head, waited three days before commenting on Navalny’s passing, finally doing so on Monday but only to cast himself as a victim.

“The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Mr Trump