Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested on Friday that a high-level Russian official “take out” Russian leader Vladimir Putin, claiming that it would do “[Russia]—and the world—a great service.”

“Is there a Brutus in Russia?” Graham asked, comparing a potential assassination of Putin to the assassination of Julius Caesar by Marcus Junius Brutus, who served under Caesar but killed him to prevent Rome from becoming a dictatorship. Graham also compared a potential Russian assassin to a “more successful” Claus von Stauffenberg, the high-ranking Nazi officer who unsuccessfully attempted to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler in July 1944.

“The only people who can fix this are the Russian people,” Graham added in a second tweet. “Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty ... you need to step up to the plate.”

The Russian government was not amused by Graham’s remarks.

Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, described Graham’s statement as “unacceptable and outrageous,” saying that it was “impossible to believe that a senator of a country that [promotes] its moral values as a ‘guiding star’ for all mankind could afford to call for terrorism as a way to achieve Washington’s goals in the international arena.”

“The degree of Russophobia and hatred in the United States towards Russia is off the scale,” Antonov added in a statement from the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC. “We demand official explanations and a strong condemnation of the criminal statements of this American.”

Despite the extreme hostility to Putin in the United States and the West, several Western commentators also took issue with Graham’s remarks.

“Are you TRYING to cause escalation?” Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, asked Graham on Twitter. “Now Putin can say “one of the most senior U.S. Senators has called for my assassination.” Why would you want to help him?”

Earlier in the week, Graham co-sponsored a Senate resolution condemning Putin for his invasion of Ukraine and accusing Russia of “committing flagrant acts of aggression and other atrocities rising to the level of crimes against humanity and war crimes.” The resolution was also co-sponsored by prominent senators from both parties, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters.