A Russian lawmaker has claimed civil war is brewing in America, as he called Donald Trump “dumb”. Andrey Lugovoy, an MP in the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament, claimed Moscow should take advantage of Republican-Democrat “divisions” and cause a “shutdown”.
In a staggering appearance on Russian state TV, he claimed differences between the two US political parties are “entering a phase of being impossible to resolve” and the Kremlin should “interfere”. He said he doesn’t treat claims that a “civil war in America is coming” as a “conspiracy theory”. In reference to the Republicans and Democrats, he said: “They’re currently using political repressions against each other in the most proactive way.
“Secondly, they will never agree about migration, we’ve heard it from their statements.
“Of course, we should take advantage of this unsolvable problem.”
He went on to accuse the US of “meddling” in Russian affairs and said Moscow should be “more politically aggressive”.
The UK suspects Mr Lugovoy, a former KGB officer, of being one of two men responsible for the murder of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
The Kremlin critic died after ingesting radioactive polonium-210 which was believed to have been administered in a cup of tea.
Mr Lugovoy has dismissed the accusations as “absurd”.
During his appearance on the state TV show ‘60 minutes’, Mr Lugovoy suggested Russia can be more “politically aggressive” through its controlled Russia Today news channel.
The politician for the Liberal Democrat Party of Russia, which is part of the country’s systemic opposition, later claimed Moscow should “buy” journalists and politicians.
He said Russia should “plant” its people into US “domestic life” and that he was “deeply convinced” of putting people into the Democrats.
“We should further pit them [Republicans and Democrats] against each other,” Mr Lugovoy claimed.
“We should take advantage of their existing differences. We should drive them not only to an economic shutdown, but a political one.
“We shouldn’t be shy about it. They often accuse us of interfering in their elections — we say that we aren’t, we really aren’t, but we should interfere.
“We are developing our propagandist activities, I mean it in a positive sense, in Europe and America. We should intensify it even more.”
Commentators and guests on Russian state TV often share anti-Western messages.
Earlier on in his appearance, he claimed the US President “says whatever pops into his head”, adding Mr Trump “says things that are obviously dumb from every standpoint”.