A plot to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussions on the subject constitute a crime and a serious threat to global security, said Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma (the Russian parliament’s lower chamber).

“The plot to assassinate Putin, mere discussions of it is a crime, a serious threat to global security, a direct path to nuclear war. All international institutions should view it as a basis for an investigation,” Volodin wrote on Telegram.

He believes that amid the current tough confrontation, the Russian society needs to “understand the level of challenges and threats that we are facing, and, therefore, understand their own responsibility.”

According to Tucker Carlson, the Joe Biden administration considered assassinating Putin. The US journalist said that, in general, the US authorities intended to engage in a suicidal confrontation with Moscow. In particular, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was “pushing so hard for a real war” between the US and Russia in his last two months in office.