It's surprising to see the Biden administration pursue a policy similar to the one Russian President Vladimir Putin employed against political foe Alexei Navalny to "get rid of" former President Donald Trump, says retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer.
Navalny, Putin's most formidable domestic opponent, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the "Polar Wolf" Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence, authorities said.
The death of Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, robs the disparate Russian opposition of its most prominent leader as Putin prepares for an election which will keep the former KGB spy in power until at least 2030.
"He was very articulate, very charismatic. He was someone who was actually trying to do things to change the Russian system," Shaffer said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Chris Salcedo Show."
"And as I've said a number of times here on your program, otherwise, you know, Vladimir Putin is a successful politician within the system that he's created. You can take the man out of the Soviet [but] you can't take the Soviet out of the man and Putin is still a Soviet, so I'm not surprised by this."
"I am surprised that you see the Biden administration who would correctly pursue a similar policy to get rid of Trump," Shaffer added, referring to the four criminal indictments Trump faces in four cities as he vies to reclaim the White House.
"They would see Trump in prison to do the same thing. So, the fact that Biden is speaking out after Putin endorsed him, by the way ... I think that this is a tragedy. Putin is still a thug. But with that said, we have our own system of problems that we have to look at."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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