Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday slammed the assassination of Donald Trump’s close aide Charlie Kirk, calling it a “heinous crime”. He said that the far-right activist’s murder reflected a “deep split” in American society.
He hailed Kirk as a hero killed for promoting the same conservative values that Russia shares.
He compared the murder of Kirk with Michael Gloss, an American and the son of a deputy CIA chief, who joined the Russian military and was killed in action in Ukraine in 2024. He said that both, Kirk and Gloss, championed similar “traditional” values. “He gave his life while defending those values as a Russian soldier, and Kirk gave his life while fighting for the same values in the United States,” Putin said.
Putin calls PM Modi his ‘wise friend’
Putin was speaking at the speaking at the forum of international foreign policy experts in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi. He spoke on various issues, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a “wise man”.
He also warned Trump over supplying long range weapons to Ukraine, that has the capability to inflict damage on Russia. He also said that supplying Ukraine with weapons will “seriously damage relations” between Moscow and Washington.
Charlie Kirk assassination
Charlie Kirk was shot dead during a campus event at Utah Valley University. The US president condemned the death, calling Kirk a model “for truth and freedom” and said he was a man of “deep faith”. “We take comfort in the knowledge that he is now at peace with God in heaven,” he said, adding that he has asked God to watch over Kirk’s wife and children in this moment of “heartache and pain”.
The co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, the 31-year-old Kirk is the latest victim in a spasm of political violence across the United States.
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