London: Russia has sought an apology from Fox News on Monday after program host Bill O'Reilly described President Vladimir Putin as "a killer" during an interview with President Donald Trump.
The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the description was "unacceptable, insulting," according to the state-run news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax.
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Trump: 'You think our country is so innocent?'
Donald Trump dismisses Russian President Vladimir Putin's reputation for extrajudicial killings in an interview on Fox News.
"We consider such words from a Fox News correspondent to be unacceptable, insulting," he said. "Of course, we would prefer to receive apologies to our president from such a respectable television network."
In the interview, which aired Sunday, O'Reilly asked Trump how he felt about the Russian leader.
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O'Reilly: "Do you respect Putin?"
Trump: "I do respect him."
O'Reilly: "Do you? Why?"
Trump: "Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS - which is a major fight - and Islamic terrorism all over the world, major fight,- that's a good thing. Will I get along with him? I have no idea. It's very possible that I won't."
O'Reilly: "He's a killer though. Putin's a killer."
Trump: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"
The President's response, which appeared to equate Putin's actions with those of the United States, drew outrage and dismay in Republican ranks and on social media.
Vice President Mike Pence, asked in several talk-show appearances about the president's seeming comparison of officially sanctioned extrajudicial killings in Russia with unspecified US actions, said Trump had merely intended to stress his own desire to re-engage the Kremlin.
"I simply don't accept that there was any moral equivalency in the president's comments," Pence said on CBS' "Face the Nation," casting the remarks instead as "an attempt to deal with the world as it is…to start afresh with Russia."
Three Republican senators have lambasted Trump over the comparison.
"There is no equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom loving nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in Putin's defence of his cronyism. There's no moral equivalency there," Senator Ben Sasse said.
Senator Marco Rubio weighed in on Twitter saying the US and Russia "are not the same".
When has a Democratic political activists been poisoned by the GOP, or vice versa? We are not the same as #Putin. MR
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 5, 2017
An open admirer of the Russian leader, Trump has taken a conciliatory approach toward Putin, whose tenure has been known for human rights abuses, the brutal suppression of political dissent and the unnatural deaths of many political opponents.
Writing for Reuters, Josh Cohen, a former USAID officer on economic reform projects in the former Soviet Union, said regardless of whether Putin and Trump get along, domestic political constraints could upend efforts by Trump to normalise Russian-American relations.
"Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, for example, plans to introduce a bipartisan bill requiring Trump to obtain Congressional approval before lifting sanctions on Russia. There is also a provision in current intelligence legislation working its way through Congress to create a new organisation dedicated to countering Russian political interference - something which could provoke even further Russian ill-will."
Peskov declined to comment on Trump's response to O'Reilly.
A representative for Fox News said O'Reilly would address the issue on his prime-time show Monday night (US time).
New York Times, LA Times, Reuters