Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed a question about the “many” people who oppose him at home in Russia who either “end up dead or close to it.”
“You say nothing happened to you, but I need to ask you, domestically — not internationally, domestically, inside Russia — why is it that so many of the people that oppose Vladimir Putin end up dead or close to it?” Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked Putin during a tense interview Monday.
Wallace listed several figures, including Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who was poisoned earlier this year in the United Kingdom by a military-grade nerve agent. Wallace then pressed Putin on why his political enemies “are attacked.”
“Well, first of all, all of us have plenty of political rivals,” Putin said. “I’m pretty sure President Trump has plenty of political rivals.”
“But they don’t end up dead,” Wallace replied.
“Well, not always — well, haven’t presidents been killed in the United States? Have you forgotten about — well, has Kennedy been killed in Russia or in the United States? Or Mr. King?” Putin said. “What — and what happens to the clashes between police and civil society, and several ethnic groups? Well, that’s something that happens on the U.S. soil. All of us have our own set of domestic problems.”
“But going back to what happened in Russia, yes. We do have crime and we unfortunately — there are some crimes,” Putin continued. “And to some extent, Russia’s statehood is maturing. And there are some side effects. And we persecute people responsible for these crimes. But since you’ve mentioned the Skripal case, we would like to get at least some sort of a document, evidence about it. But nobody gives it to us. It’s the same thing as the accusations with meddling into the election process in America.”
[Also read: Putin laughs off election interference question]
Watch: Chris Wallace questions Putin on why Russians who oppose him end up dead https://t.co/q6sRYmVIeX pic.twitter.com/pIlAGpnDQj
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 16, 2018
Russian officials have denied that Russia was responsible for Skripal’s poisoning, and Putin previously claimed accusations against Russia were a result of “delirium.”
The interview followed President Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki on Monday, where Trump expressed skepticism on whether the Russian government meddled in the 2016 U.S. election during a joint press conference, even though a U.S. intelligence community assessment last year determined that Russia agents were responsible for interfering in the election.
[Also read: Trump’s own intelligence chief distances himself from Russian meddling comments]
Trump also defended himself and claimed that there was “no collusion” from his campaign with the Kremlin.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced on Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the ongoing Russia probe on Russian interference in the 2016 election, indicted 12 Russian officials on charges of engaging “in a sustained effort” to break into computers owned by Democrats in the lead-up to the contest.
