Russia says Trump attack reflects ‘suicidal state’ of American democracy

The Russian government sought to blame the shooting of former President Trump this weekend on the political environment under the Biden administration, and said it was an example of the failures of American democracy and “liberalism.”

The criticism delivered by Russian government spokespeople comes even as the Kremlin has repeatedly been at the center of allegations and strong evidence that it carried out assassination attempts against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political opponents or challengers. 

“Moscow does not think that the attempt to eliminate the politician was organized by the current government. However, the atmosphere created around Trump provoked the attack,” read a statement from the Kremlin pool news group posted on the social media account X. 

The statement further said that Putin does not plan to call Trump.

The FBI says early evidence points to a lone shooter carrying out the attack on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, although investigations are ongoing over whether the shooter had any other connections that may poses a threat to the former president. Trump sustained minor injuries in the shooting; a rally-goer was killed and two others critically wounded. 

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the assassination attempt “is a reflection of American democracy ‘brought to a suicidal state’ by liberalism.” 

The Kremlin often seeks to use turmoil or violence in the U.S. as demonstrating the failures of American democracy in its domestic and global public influence campaigns, particularly among countries that straddle relations between Moscow and Washington.

The Kremlin pushes these narratives in attempts to break down international support for the U.S., and counter U.S. efforts to tally international an coalition backing Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia. 

But the Russian government under Putin has been accused of numerous assassinations and assassination attempts against perceived political enemies and oppression of these individuals through unjust jailing. 

Putin was widely condemned for the death in a Russian jail of top political opponent Alexei Navalny in February, who had survived a poisoning carried out by agents of Russia’s internal security services in August 2020.

Last week, the lawyer for jailed Russian opposition politician Vladmir Kara Murza said his client was in “stable” condition after being moved to a Russian hospital after six days of no contact. Kara Murza, whose supporters say he is unjustly detailed, is in poor health after surviving two previous poisoning attempts. 

Other high profile deaths include Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private military group Wagner, who was killed in August 2023 when his plane exploded and fell from the sky, occurring two months after he launched a failed military coup against the Kremlin. 

In 2018, Russia was blamed for the poisoning of former Russian intelligence official, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in the U.K. town of Salisbury.