US Senator Calls for Assassination of Russian President
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A top Republican senator has told Russian citizens that unless one of them steps forward to "throw this guy out," presumably referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, they will spend the rest of their lives in isolation and darkness.
Senator Lindsay Graham's tirade came after Ukraine accused a "Russian shelling" for a fire at Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
“Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?” Sen. Lindsay Graham Tweeted on Thursday night.
“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,” he added, RT reported.
“The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,” he said.
While Graham did not mention Putin by name or specify how exactly he expects the Russian people to “take him out,” his historical parallels leave little room for interpretation.
Marcus Junius Brutus was a Roman politician who betrayed and assassinated Julius Caesar, immortalized in the emperor's dying words: “You too, Brutus?” Claus von Stauffenberg, meanwhile, was a German army officer famous for his failed assassination attempt on Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
On Thursday night, a fire broke out at a building near the six-reactor Zaporozhskaya Nuclear power Plant, with Ukrainian authorities accusing Russian troops of “shelling” the nuclear site.
Moscow had informed the international nuclear authorities on Tuesday that Russian forces had secured the territory around the plant and it was operating normally. Russian authorities have yet to respond to the latest charge.
However, firefighters successfully extinguished the massive fire at the six-reactor Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant in Energodar, southwestern Ukraine, local emergency services announced early on Friday.
“At 6:20 [local time], the fire in the training facility of Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant in Energodar was extinguished. There are no victims and casualties,” reported the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on their official Facebook page.
It was earlier reported that the massive fire had been localized in an area of 2,000 square meters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a statement on Friday morning, expressing concern about the incident, which could become “a second Chernobyl or even worse.”
“We’ve contacted leaders, our partners. I talked to Charles Michel, Olaf Scholz, I talked to [Andrzej] Duda, talked to President Biden. We contacted IAEA’s Grossi, and also Prime Minister [Boris] Johnson. We are warning everyone,” he said in his video address.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said no “essential equipment” had been damaged at the plant, with no change in radiation levels reported.
