The Russian Interior Ministry has put US Senator Lindsey Graham on a wanted list, as reported by Russian media agency TASS citing the ministry’s database.
Ukraine’s Presidential Office released an edited video in which Graham was shown stating, “the Russians are dying,” and then adding that US aid to Ukraine was the “best money we’ve ever spent,” in his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensksy on Friday.
Overview
In response, the Russian Interior Ministry has put US Senator Lindsey Graham on its wanted list after Chief of Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin introduced criminal proceedings against the senator for his Russophobic statements.
“Lindsey Olin Graham, an American citizen, born on July 9, 1955, is wanted under an article of the Russian Criminal Code,” read a statement on the agency’s database without specifying the article.
Graham said that the Ukrainian people, who resisted Russia’s invasion, reminded him of “our better selves in America.” Graham noted he arrived on the 457th day of a conflict that Russia had anticipated would be over in three days.
He added, “There was a time in America that we were this way, fighting to the last person, we were going to be free or die.” Zelensky responded, “Now you are free. We will be, too.”
The remarks triggered widespread anger in Russia. The Russian authorities had previously verbally criticised Graham before initiating criminal proceedings.
BREAKING 🚨 Russia has placed U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on wanted list - TASS #Breaking #Russia pic.twitter.com/tw5vx77Gpc
— Breaking News Desk (@BreakingVideoHQ) May 29, 2023
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned Graham and implied a connection between his remarks about American financial support and a subsequent assertion that Russians “are dying” in the war. Peskov slammed the senator in remarks to a Telegram channel, “It is difficult to imagine a greater shame for a country than having such senators.”
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called Graham an old fool. “The old fool Senator Lindsey Graham said that the United States has never spent money so successfully as on the murder of Russians,” Medvedev said. “He shouldn’t have done that.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that US investments had initiated World War II and the Holocaust. The US was now financing “the neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” Zakharova claimed, reiterating Russia’s view that its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year was necessary to destroy Nazism.
Following Russia’s criticism, Ukraine released a full video of the meeting, indicating that the two statements were unrelated.
The head of the Investigative Committee of the #Russian Federation, Bastrykin, instructed to open a criminal case after the statements of US Senator Lindsey #Graham about the "murder of Russians." pic.twitter.com/dYDccgJzLg
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 28, 2023
Graham Responds to Russian Criticism
Graham responded to Russian criticism of his support for Ukraine on Sunday, claiming he had just commended the spirit of Ukrainians in repelling a Russian invasion with backing from Washington.
Citing Medvedev’s remarks on his visit to Kyiv to encourage Washington to deploy more weapons to Ukraine, Graham told Reuters in an email statement on Sunday that “as usual, the Russia propaganda machine is hard at work.”
Graham reminded Zelensky “that Ukraine has adopted the American mantra, ‘Live Free or Die.’ It has been a good investment by the United States to help liberate Ukraine from Russian war criminals.”
He added, “Medvedev, if you want Russians to stop dying in Ukraine, withdraw. Stop the invasion. Stop the war crimes. The truth is that you and (President Vladimir) Putin could care less about Russian soldiers.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak echoed Graham’s sentiment on Twitter, saying that the best investment the US and the West could make was “in Ukraine’s complete and unconditional victory.”