A spokesperson for the Kremlin in Russia said the "atmosphere" put forward by President Joe Biden is responsible for the shooting of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
"We do not think and do not believe that the attempt to eliminate presidential candidate Trump was organized by the current government," Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, according to Russian state news agency, Tass.
"But the atmosphere that was created by this administration during the political struggle, the atmosphere around candidate Trump, it is precisely this that provoked what America is facing today," Pescov added.
Pescov tied $53 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine to the shooting, saying that if the U.S. had spent some of that money on its own security, the shooting in essence wouldn't have happened.
Peskov said the current U.S. government prefers to "resolve all issues from a position of strength, including and primarily in world affairs."
"Now the violence has essentially been transferred inside the country," Peskov said. "After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena, first using legal instruments, courts, the prosecutor's office, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate, it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger."
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, said in agreement with Pescov that funds that supported Kyiv should be used to "finance the American police and other services that are supposed to ensure law and order inside the U.S."
Trump was shot in his right ear around 6:15 p.m. Eastern time in Butler, Pennslyvania while speaking to a crowd of several thousand people at a rally there.
He was whisked off the stage by the Secret Service, who along with local police apparently failed to notice a gunman 150 feet away on the roof of a nearby building until just before the shooting began.
Before he was taken off the stage, though, he put his fist in the air and told the crowd to "fight."
He was treated at a local hospital and released Saturday night. He is now in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to emphasize unity among Americans.
President Joe Biden said in an address to the nation Sunday night that he condemned the shooting and also called for unity and for a cooling off of the rhetoric in the campaign.
He initiated a full investigation into the shooting and the failures of security around it.
Following Biden's remarks, Trump posted a two-word response on Truth Social: "UNITE AMERICA!"
