Was The Kremlin Scared By President Trump's Decision To Kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani?

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk before a session of the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

Salon: Exclusive: Anti-Putin activist says Russian government likely scared by Trump's attack on Iran

Bill Browder, a British businessman and anti-Putin activist, discusses Putin's response to Trump's attack on Iran.

Bill Browder — the British businessman and anti-Vladimir Putin activist who has successfully pushed for sanctions on Russia for its human rights violations — spoke with Salon to analyze why Russian officials and media outlets are condemning President Donald Trump's decision to have a drone strike assassinate Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

"I think that more than anything, Putin is absolutely terrified by the assassination of Soleimani," Browder told Salon by email on Saturday. "If the US can go after a high level military enemy from the air with drones and kill him, it means that the US can go after any of their political and military enemies in the same way. At some point it could be Putin’s turn."

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WNU Editor: Scared is not the word that I would use. They were surprised/startled. I know I was when I first heard what happened. But in hindsight no one should have been surprised. The Middle East and the world at large is changing, and this includes how the U.S. will respond to threats and actors who are determined to bring harm to the U.S.. Bottom line. In the past almost everyone assumed the US would be passive when it came to handling someone like Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. No more now. And as for the Kremlin's response, they have a long history of doing exactly what President Trump did last week when he ordered the death of Soleimani. Zero tolerance for other countries who wage war overtly or covertly against its citizens. In the meantime President Putin will be talking to world leaders to formulate what they should do next (if anything) .... Putin and Macron Discuss Concerns Over U.S. Killing of Top Iranian General Soleimani – Kremlin (Moscow Times).