Former speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has claimed that some protesters calling for a Gaza ceasefire were connected to Russian President Putin.

“Let me just say this because I have been the recipient of shall we say their exuberance as regard as recently in Seattle on Thursday unfortunately wanted to disrupt a very exciting democratic meeting there,” she said while responding to a query on CNN show State of the Union on Sunday.

Host Dana Bush asked Pelosi how much she was concerned about protesters at US President Joe Biden’s events against his support for Israel in the war against Hamas and calling for a ceasefire.

She also sought Pelosi’s response regarding young people and Arab Americans’ participation in protests and their choice of candidate in the next elections in which former president Donald Trump is inching closer to securing an extraordinary White House rematch with Biden.

“They are always in front of my house all the time so I have a feeling for what they have but we have to think about what we are doing and what we have to do is try to stop the suffering in Gaza. This is women and children. The people don’t have a place to go, so let’s address that. But for them to call for a ceasefire is Mr Putin’s message. Mr Putin’s message, make no mistake,” the former US House speaker said.

“This is directly connected to what he would like to see. Same thing with Ukraine. It’s about Putin’s message. I think some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere, some I think are connected to Russia and I say that having looked at this for a long time,” she added.

When asked whether she thinks some of the protests were Russian plans, Pelosi said that some of the financing should be investigated and called for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate that.

Earlier this month, a group of protesters interrupted Biden during his campaign speech at a historic South Carolina church by chanting slogans for a ceasefire in Palestine.

A news report by the Meet the Press show on MSNBC showed that 70% of the young voters, aged 18-34, disapproved of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Several actors in the West and East have called for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, citing that the biggest number of casualties in the Israeli airstrikes is children.

On Friday, the International Court of Justice failed to order a ceasefire in Gaza. It said that some of the allegations levelled against Israel fell within the provisions of the Genocide Convention.

A 16-member bench of the World Court was present in the session, out of the 17 judges to announce the verdict on South Africa’s case that the Israeli military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide.