Lindsey Graham Claims ‘Putin Owns Biden,’ Calls for No-Fly Zone if Russia Uses Chemical Weapons in Ukraine

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared on Monday’s Hannity to discuss President Joe Biden’s handling of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

At one point the senator claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “owns Biden.”

Sean Hannity cited Biden’s decision to oppose Poland’s plan to give Ukraine its stock of MiG fighter jets as the country tries to repel Russia’s invasion. When asked last week if he plans to change course on that decision, Biden responded, “I’m not going to comment on that right now.”

The Fox News host asked Graham, “In terms of America’s role, why would Joe Biden veto Poland giving MiGs to the Ukrainians so they can fight their own war?”

“Because Putin owns Biden,” he replied. “Biden is afraid of escalation. He’s afraid of making Putin mad. As the troops were building up around the Ukraine, Republicans and Democrats said, put sanctions on Putin for provocation of a military buildup, don’t wait ’til the invasion.”

Graham referenced Biden’s upcoming attendance at a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday in which the security alliance will grapple with the Ukraine question. He stated that if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, NATO should impose a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace.

“There’s gonna be a NATO summit,” he said. “Here’s what I’d say on your show to NATO. If there’s a chemical weapons attack by the Russian military against the Ukrainian people, we should impose a no-fly zone immediately because that’s breaking all the rules that we’ve established since World War II.”

Enforcing a no-fly zone would involve shooting down Russian aircraft and missiles over Ukrainian territory.

Graham further stated that if Russia uses a nuclear weapon, NATO should consider attacking Russia.

“If Putin explodes a nuclear weapon inside of Ukraine, the radiation will affect most of Europe,” the senator continued. “We should consider that [an] attack on NATO itself.”

In this interpretation, NATO’s collective defense provision would be triggered, thus obligating member states to come to those attacked.

Graham added that Putin will assume the U.S. and NATO are weak if they do not make themselves “clear.”

Watch above via Fox News.