“For the first time, a head of state was eliminated. They went ahead and eliminated him, that’s all,” Kalashnikov said. All other times, like Iraq, they formally put them on trial […] Like Libya, it was done by their own people, not Americans. For the first time, a head of state can be eliminated.” Kalashnikov called for immediate constitutional changes in Russia to protect the continuity of government, while also insisting that Putin cease all international travel – even for peace negotiations – to ensure his safety.

“We should definitely change our constitution because of what they’re doing,” the politician said. “They killed 30 people in positions of leadership at once. They don’t know who will be the next to carry out the duties.

“The same thing with us, we have a Western system. If something happens to the president, the prime minister will step in. If something happens to the PM, the Federation Council takes over. Why? We should quickly change things. The Federation Council is basically in charge, the Politburo. We should immediately make amendments to our constitution, based on what these guys are doing.”

“Putin should not travel anywhere right now,” Kalashnikov added. “Send our people there, and the rest should come to us, or travel to Alaska on a military plane. All of us should protect the president right now.”

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Kalashnikov also referenced the treatment of leaders, including Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and the late Hugo Chávez, to illustrate what he perceived as the recent shift in Western tactics.

“Cilia Flores [Maduro’s wife] was arrested and beaten up, and no one in the ‘democratic’ America is even talking about it. Ok, so you made a drug lord out of him, but what did his wife do? […] If Trump is arrested for crimes […] and Melania was arrested along with him and brought to court, at a minimum, judges would say, ‘Why Melania? Just because she is your wife?”

On Saturday (February 28), the US and Israel dropped dozens of aerial bombs on the residence of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killing him alongside the country’s top command. In response, Tehran launched large-scale attacks with ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones on US bases and territories of US-allied countries in the Middle East, including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE.