MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not contacted Donald Trump after the assassination attempt on the Republican U.S. presidential candidate over the weekend and had no plans to do so.
Asked if security measures around Putin would now be beefed up, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader already enjoyed the appropriate level of protection.
“Security is already strengthened for obvious reasons, regardless of incidents,” Peskov told reporters.
“We can only reiterate that the security of the head of state is provided at the appropriate level, everything necessary is being done taking into account the international escalation of tensions in general.”
The Kremlin said on Sunday it did not believe the U.S. administration was responsible for Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, but accused it of creating an atmosphere that provoked the attack.
Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania after a major security lapse. The attacker was shot dead and law enforcement officials said they had not yet identified a motive.
Putin has not yet commented publicly on the matter.
Peskov’s comments echoed those of some of Trump’s Republican allies, who immediately pinned the blame on Biden.
“After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena – using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate – it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger,” Peskov said on Sunday.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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