The West Should Not Rule Out Assassinating Putin, Former British Army Chief Claims

A former British Army chief has called for the West to not rule out assassinating Russian president Vladimir Putin.

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, with a city in the east of Ukraine now reportedly 'no longer existing' because of the impact of bombing, pressure has been piling on the West to ramp up its efforts to support Ukraine.

Since Putin's 'special military operation' first began on February 24, Ukraine's civilian death toll has surpassed the count from the 2014 war, and according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 1,300 of the country's troops have been killed.

Vladimir Putin (Alamy)

Calling Putin a 'permanent and deadly threat', Colonel Richard Kemp has since urged forces to not rule out the possibility of assassinating the Kremlin leader for the sake of saving thousands of lives.

Colonel Kemp – who led troops in Afghanistan – stressed that NATO should 'consider all options' in how to remove Putin from power, The Mirror reports.

He said: 'That would include killing him although it is not likely to be viable or desirable.'

He argued that while 'the best thing would be to see Putin deposed, arrested and tried, either in Russia or criminal court,' that 'those options are highly unlikely ever to happen'.

While Colonel Kemp reflected that the idea of an assassination may seem 'unpalatable to many,' he pressed that Putin's 'life has no greater value than the lives of the thousands he has already murdered in Ukraine and elsewhere and may well kill in the future.'

He stated: 'He is the ‘Supreme Commander in Chief’ of the Russian forces who ordered an illegal war of aggression and is a legitimate target.

Colonel Richard Kemp speaking in 2014 (Alamy)

'Our government planned the assassination of Adolf Hitler in the Second World War. Had he been removed instead of appeased in the late 1930s we would not have suffered a conflict that killed 70 million people.'

Colonel Kemp argued that, historically, other leaders have been taken out in a bid to preserve life and the safety of the world, such as 'Osama Bin Laden, Islamic State chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and Iranian Republican Guard Commander Qasem Soleimani' who 'all represented direct threats to the West'.

'They were all killed to counter those threats. Putin represents a permanent and deadly threat that will remain while he is in power,' he stated.

Colonel Kemp's words follow a take from a former British soldier who theorised that a viral photo of Putin sat 20ft away from French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz was a sign of the Kremlin leader's paranoia about a possible assassination attempt.

The former army chief concluded: 'Our priority should be to help remove him. If enough pressure is brought to bear on Putin’s oligarchs it could lead to a palace coup.'

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