The demand of US President Joe Biden to release Alexey Navalny comes down to “aggressive and unconstructive rhetoric”, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated.

“This is a very aggressive and unconstructive rhetoric, unfortunately. Any hints of an ultimatum are absolutely unacceptable to us. Moscow would not pay attention to such statements”, - he said.

According to Peskov, Russia hopes that the US will show political will towards further cooperation, as despite many differences, there is a basis for cooperation: “We still expect the Americans to show political will to continue communication in the areas beneficial to us”.

In his speech on Thursday on foreign policy issues, Joe Biden accused Russia of suppressing freedoms and demanded that Navalny be freed: “The politically-motivated jailing of Alexei Navalny and the Russian efforts to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us and the international community. He should be released immediately and without condition”.