Putin 'would be killed' if he came to Kiev, Ukraine parliament deputy says on TV
A Verkhovna Rada deputy who is also an ex-defense minister of Ukraine, said during a prime time talk-show that the country’s “patriots” would be justified “to kill” Russian President Vladimir Putin if he came to Kiev.
Anatoly Gritsenko made his shocking statement speaking on the popular national talk show ‘Shuster Live’.
“Putin won’t stop. He wants not only Ukraine, he wants the Baltic States and other countries,” claimed Gritsenko, who was a presidential candidate twice, in the 2010 and 2014 Ukrainian elections. Gritsenko did not elaborate on what had driven him to such a conclusion.
Calling the Russian president “a fascist,” Gritsenko went on to say that he cannot imagine Vladimir Putin coming to Ukraine to sign some kind of a deal.
“I believe there are patriots who would volunteer to kill him – and that would be the right thing to do,” Gritsenko remarked.
The leader of the Civil Position party, Gritsenko is a vocal advocate of Ukraine joining both the EU and NATO.
Speaking in the same edition of the ‘Shuster Live’ talk-show, Gritsenko accused the current Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, of not fulfilling financial obligations towards the Ukrainian military units taking part in the punitive operation in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. Gritsenko insisted that Poroshenko must allocate the money he promised during his election campaign, even if it is to come out of his own pocket.
The politician also proposed to send the sons of top Ukrainian officials to fight against the self-defense forces in the east of the country – including the son of the President Poroshenko himself.
The last several months of political crisis in Ukraine have been marked with scandals caused by the shocking statements of local politicians, so this latest gaffe by the former defense minister looks like normal business.
Two weeks ago, the now ex-Foreign Minister Andrey Deshchitsa publicly ‘effed’ the head of Russia. In an incident that may be a first in diplomatic history, Kiev’s top diplomat chanted“Putin’s a f**ker” surrounded by a crowd vandalizing the Russian embassy in the Ukrainian capital.
Although Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko fired the uncouth diplomat several days ago, some MPs in the Ukrainian parliament considered it only natural that Deshchitsa should become Ukraine’s new ambassador to Russia.
Since the unrest began in Ukraine in November last year, other Ukrainian politicians have also distinguished themselves with unprecedented deeds and sayings.
In March, the leader of Ukraine’s far-right Radical Party, ultra-radical MP Oleg Lyashko his supporters abducted a regional MP in eastern Ukraine and posted video of his interrogation in which Lyashko says that he will "hang him by the ballsand have him f**ked.”
Also in March, Ukrainian MP Igor Miroshnynchenko (from Svoboda party) assisted by a group of helpers stormed the office of Ukraine’s National Television Company, physically abused the TV channel’s head, calling him an “animal” and “Moskal” (a derogatory term for Russians) and bullied him into signing a resignation.
In April, Irina Farion, an MP of the nationalist Fatherland Party, went as far as to call for the deaths of citizens in Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk who demand the federalization of Ukraine.
“I’d act much tougher. I’d just shoot them dead. Look, the enemy is ruling our land. What are we talking about? They should’ve been expelled from here back in 1654 (the year Ukraine aligned with the Russian Empire). That’s why today’s reaction is unacceptable. The measures should be much tougher. Our people laid down their lives. That’s why those creatures that arrive here deserve only death,” Farion proclaimed.
