White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday distanced the Joe Biden administration from US Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposal that someone in the Russian administration assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Asked on Friday whether the Biden administration deemed Senator Graham’s proposal to kill Putin “helpful,” Psaki firmly distanced the US government from the Senator, saying, “That is not the position of the United States government. And certainly not a statement you’d hear from – come from the mouth of anybody working in this administration.”
Psaki’s comments came hours after the Republican senator from South Carolina called for Putin’s head.
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“The only people who can fix this are the Russian people. Easy to say, hard to do. Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty, and live in darkness you need to step up to the plate,” Senator Graham had tweeted early on Friday.
“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?,” the Senator further asked on Twitter.
“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service,” Graham wrote, urging Russians to assassinate Putin.
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However, the Senator’s tweet was not received well by either the Democrats or the Republicans, who quickly condemned Graham. Senator Ted Cruz called the proposal an “exceptionally bad idea,” while controversial Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene called Graham’s tweet “irresponsible, dangerous & unhinged.”
Russia, meanwhile, accused the US of ‘Russophobia’, with Russian envoy Anatoly Antonov saying, “The degree of Russophobia and hatred in the United States towards Russia is off the scale. It is impossible to believe that a senator of a country that promotes its moral values as a ‘guiding star’ for all mankind could afford to call for terrorism as a way to achieve Washington’s goals in the international arena.”
“It becomes scary for the US’ fate, which is run by such irresponsible and unprofessional politicians. We demand official explanations and a strong condemnation of the criminal statements of this American,” Antonov further said.
The news comes a couple of days after a Russian businessman put a $1 million bounty on Vladimir Putin. However, unlike Senator Graham, Alex Konanykhin called for “justice” and the arrest of Putin by Russian authorities.