The Kremlin on Sunday said it did not believe the current U.S. administration was responsible for Saturday’s assassination attempt on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, but that it had created an atmosphere that provoked the attack.

Trump was shot in the ear during a Saturday rally in Pennsylvania, in an attack now being investigated as an assassination attempt that left the Republican presidential candidate’s face streaked with blood.

“We do not believe that the attempt to eliminate and assassinate Trump was organised by the current authorities,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“But the atmosphere around candidate Trump…provoked what America is confronting today.

“After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena – using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate – it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger.”

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the attack, saying there was no place for that kind of violence in America.

Peskov said there were no plans for Putin to call Trump in light of the incident.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)