Sen. Lindsey Graham.Photo: GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty
Lawmakers on either side of the aisle are sharply criticizing Republican Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina senator called or “somebody in Russia” to assassinate PresidentVladimir Putinin a tweet published Thursday.
“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” Graham’s tweet — which referenced the Roman politician who helped assassinate Julius Caesar and the German army officer who tried and failed to kill Adolf Hitler — read.
“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,” the tweet continued. “You would be doing your country — and the world — a great service.”
In a follow-up, the 66-year-old Graham added: “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.”
“Use massive economic sanctions; BOYCOTT Russian oil & gas; and provide military aid so the Ukrainians can defend themselves,” Cruz wrote. “But we should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state.”
Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Ivanovich also condemned the remarks, calling them “unacceptable and outrageous” in a statement.
“The best way for this to end is having Eliot Ness or Wyatt Earp in Russia — the Russian spring, so to speak … where people rise up and take him down because if he continues to be their leader, then he’s going to make you complicit with war crimes,” the senator said on Fox News.
Russia’sattack on Ukrainecontinues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24 — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyycalled for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
