South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says he would shoot down Russian planes in Syrian airspace in order to protect U.S.-backed forces in the region.

"First thing I would do is tell Putin that, if you bomb the people that we train in Syria, I shoot your plane's down," the Republican presidential candidate said on AM970 The AnswerTuesday morning, before slamming President Obama for letting the Russian military bomb targets on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"I would tell him, Putin, you're not going to attack the people we train. I would arm the Ukrainians so they could fight back for their own freedom. I would export natural gas to Europe to undercut his monopoly and I would tell him that Assad's going to go. We're gonna deal with ISIL first."

"I would put Putin on notice that you're not going to destabilize countries with military intervention," Graham said.

"I would shoot his planes down, I would literally shoot his planes down if he attacked the people we trained because we have to do that. It is not right by the American president to entice people to come to a fight, train and equip them, side with them on their cause, and sit back and watch them being slaughtered by an adversary of their people and adversary of the United States."