One may often hear public figures in the West talking about the need to physically eliminate the Russian president, defeat the Russian Armed Forces, deprive Russia of nuclear weapons and bring the Russians to zero.
Such comments appear in the West in response to Putin's warning that he made on September 21.
"In order to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all means that we have at our disposal. This is not a bluff," Putin then said.
Immediately after that, Western media started blowing up the topic about Russia's alleged plans to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. As a result, the United States started talking about a response, and what kind of response it should be exactly — nuclear or conventional.
The nuclear attack itself may never happen, but Washington already talks about its direct participation in the war with Russia and the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine.
According to Newsweek, the physical elimination of the Russian president would be a "decisive response" that the United States could make. An operation to kill Putin "in the very heart of the Kremlin" could also be an option, the US-based publication said.
Former director of the CIA, retired General David Petraeus said in an interview with ABC point-blank that the United States could start a war with Russia directly. Such a war should look like collective efforts by NATO countries to destroy all Russian non-nuclear forces and the Black Sea fleet.