Bolton said Putin needed to be aware that he ‘will be held accountable’
The US could assassinate Vladimir Putin if Russia uses a nuclear weapon in its conflict with Ukraine, former National Security Adviser John Bolton has claimed.
Speaking on LBC News on Tuesday, Bolton, a Republican who served under Donald Trump, said that the Russian leader needed to understand that while it “might not happen the next day…he will be held accountable.”
Bolton, who was being interviewed by Andrew Marr, was asked if the US really had the ability to get to Putin and said: ” I don’t agree that we can’t get to him and I think he that.”
Bolton added: “You can ask Qasem Soleimani in Iran what happens when we decide somebody is (a) threat to the US.”
Asked by @AndrewMarr9 if the US has the ability to take out a sitting Russian President, Ambassador Bolton replied: "I don't agree that we can't get him and I think he knows that. You can ask Qasem Soleimani in Iran what happens when we decide somebody is threat to the US"
— Matthew Harris (@hattmarris84) October 11, 2022
Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was killed by a US drone strike at Baghdad International Airport, on 3 January 2020 while he was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
Bolton’s comments came as G7 leaders warned that any use of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine will be met with severe consequences.
The leaders held a virtual meeting on Tuesday that was joined by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the day after scores of missiles were fired into Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.
Earlier this month, former CIA boss David Petraeus said the US would destroy Putin’s entire army if Putin uses nuclear weapons in the conflict that has raged since February.
He said: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a NATO – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see, and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea.”
Patraeus said the threat would trigger a US and NATO response, adding: “It cannot go unanswered. But it doesn’t expand. It’s not nuclear for nuclear. You don’t want to, again, get into a nuclear escalation here. But you have to show that this cannot be accepted in any way.”
Related links:
- Former CIA director says US would destroy Russia’s entire military if Putin uses nuclear weapons
- Putin declares four areas of Ukraine as Russia
- Desperate Russian wives threaten to break their husbands’ bones so they are unfit to join Ukraine war
- Ukraine prisoner of war shows shocking toll Russian captivity had on his body
