Russia says US 'playing with fire' after Trump assassination attempt

The Kremlin has said that the Ukrainian links of the alleged shooter in the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump showed that "playing with fire" had consequences.

"It is not us who should be thinking, it is the US intelligence services who should be thinking. In any case, playing with fire has its consequences," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday in response to a question about what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt on Trump.

The comment was a clear reference to the United States' support of Ukraine against Russia.

CNN, Fox News and the New York Times identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.

Three social media accounts bearing Routh's name suggest he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.

The New York Times reported it had interviewed Routh in 2023 for an article about Americans who were volunteering to help the Ukraine war effort.

Routh told the Times he'd travelled to Ukraine and spent several months there in 2022 and was trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.

Never served in Ukraine's military

Ryan Routh has never served in the Ukrainian army nor collaborated with the military in any capacity, according to Oleksandr Shahuri, a representative officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.

Over the past two-and-a-half years, Routh has periodically contacted the international legion with what Shahuri described as “nonsensical ideas.” His plans and ideas can best be described as delusional.”

The Associated Press filmed Ryan Routh in April 2022 at a demonstration in Kiev’s Independence Square two months after Russia-Ukraine war began.