Putin says US involved in Gaddafi killing

US says ludicrous to accuse it of Gaddafi killing role.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin implicated Washington today in the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and launched a tirade against Senator John McCain in an extraordinary attack on US policies.

The Russian premier used his annual televised phone-in to unleash the type of no-holds-barred attack that characterised his 2000-2008 term as president and threatens to shadow his expected return to the Kremlin in March polls.

Putin turned stone-faced when asked about a tweet from McCain — one of Washington’s fiercest critics of Putin — warning Russia it faced an “Arab spring” revolt over the disputed December 4 parliamentary elections.

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“Mr McCain fought in Vietnam. I think that he has enough blood of peaceful citizens on his hands. It must be impossible for him to live without these disgusting scenes anymore,” Putin said in reference to Gaddafi.

“Who did this?” Putin demanded. He says,”Drones,including American ones.

“They attacked his column. Then using the radio through the special forces,who should not have been there they brought in the so-called opposition and fighters,and killed him without court or investigation.”

US says ‘ludicrous’ to accuse it of Gaddafi killing role

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Washington said today it was “ludicrous” to accuse it of a role in the killing of Libya’s Moamer Kadhafi after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said US special forces were involved.

“The assertion that US special operations forces were involved in the killing of Colonel Gaddafi is ludicrous,” US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s spokesman,Captain John Kirby,told AFP.

“The killing of Gaddafi has been very well documented publicly — the circumstances surrounding it and whom in fact was responsible for it,” he said in Baghdad where he was accompanying the Pentagon chief for a flag-lowering ceremony marking the end of the war in Iraq.

“The circumstances speak for themselves on how Colonel Kadhafi met his fate,” added Kirby.

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“We did not have American boots on the ground in the Libya operation. All our support was done through the air and on the seas.”

Speaking in his annual televised phone-in with Russians,Putin had accused the US special forces of being involved in Gaddafi’s killing,the first time Moscow has pointed the finger at Washington.

“Who did this?” Putin asked.

“Drones,including American ones. They attacked his column. Then using the radio — through the special forces,who should not have been there — they brought in the so-called opposition and fighters,and killed him without court or investigation.”