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US Senator Graham during his visit to Kyiv
Photo: Volodymyr Tarasov / Ukrinform / IMAGO
In protest against allegedly Russophobic statements, Russia has issued a wanted list for US Senator Lindsey Graham. This is according to an entry published on Monday in the database of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Earlier, the Russian Investigative Committee had already initiated a criminal case over the alleged statements, but there are considerable doubts about their authenticity. Since Graham is outside of Russia, Moscow's legal actions are likely to have mainly symbolic significance.
Republican Graham visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv last Friday. There was also a video of the meeting consisting of several edited sequences in which, among other things, Zelensky thanked the US for its help in defending against Russia's war of aggression.
According to Russian media, Graham also said at one point: "And the Russians were dying. The best money we ever spent" (roughly: "And the Russians died. Our best investment ever«). However, the word "dying" is not clearly heard. There is therefore a dispute on the Internet as to whether he did not instead say that the Russians were "done". There is also a pause between the two sentences because the video was cut at exactly this point.
The Russian leadership strongly condemned Graham's alleged statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a "disgrace" that such senators represented for the United States; Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said U.S. investments caused World War II and the Holocaust.
Cpa