U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) isn’t shying away from a fight with a Russian lawmaker who didn’t like his remarks about Ukraine.
“Appearing on state TV show 60 Minutes on Wednesday,” The Daily Beast reports, “State Duma member and chairman of Russia’s nationalist Rodina party Aleksei Zhuravlyov openly advocated for the abduction and imprisonment of U.S Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) over comments he made about how to handle the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis.”
Congressman Gallego, an Iraq War veteran, has been calling for the U.S. to increase support of Ukraine, including with advanced military equipment as they face aggression from Vladimir Putin. Reports from the U.S. government say the Russian President is expected to amass an army of 175,000 on the Russia-Ukraine border by next month, possibly to invade the U.S. ally.
Gallego said that Ukraine should be provided with more advanced weaponry that “will actually put a toll on the Russian troop movements and, you know, unfortunately that means we have to kill some Russians.” He added that Russians “only understand pure power, and we have to give the Ukrainian army and special forces the ability to do that.”
In response, Zhuravlyov said of Gallego, “This is how we should be dealing with these bastards. We can grab him out of Ukraine and there’s nothing they could do, with our capabilities.”
Congressman Gallego offered up a five word response: