Biden calls Putin a ‘murderous dictator’ and says Russia ‘waging an immoral war’

Joe Biden slammed Russian president Vladimir Putin as a “murderous dictator” and a “pure thug” when he spoke before a St Patrick’s Day lunch on Capitol Hill just earlier.

The US president was fresh from a virtual meeting with the Covid-struck Irish taoiseach, or prime minister, Micheál Martin, at the White House.

He then spoke prior to a Friends of Ireland lunch at the Capitol hosted by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

Biden said: “Now you have Ireland and Great Britain ... standing together against a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine ... Ireland and the United States are working together. For the first time, now, they are on the security council. Ireland’s part of the [United Nations] security council now.”