Russia’s Interior Ministry on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham following his recent comments about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine after a visit to Kiev last week.
Meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kiev Friday, Zelensky told Graham, “Now we’re free.”
“And the Russians die,” Graham said with a smile in a short video recap of the visit released by Zelensky’s office.
“It’s the best money we’ve ever spent,” he continued in the clip released by the Ukrainians on Friday.
His comments sparked outrage head of the state-controlled Russian broadcaster RT and other Russian officials – who called for the assassination of the South Carolina senator.
However, it appears that Graham’s comments were taken out of context after a longer version of the video was made public by Zelensky’s office.
Senator Lindsey Graham made his third visit to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia last February
In a full version of the meeting between Graham and Zelensky, what the senator was actually saying was sending US aid to Ukraine, rather than the actual death of the Russians, was a valuable investment in global security for the United States.
Graham told the Ukrainian president that the resistance reminded him of “our better selves in America.” There was a time in America when we were like this, fighting to the last person, we’d be free or die.”
Zelensky replied, “Now you are free—and we shall be,” to which Graham added, “And the Russians are dying.”
The president of Ukraine replied: “Yes, but they came to our territory. We’re not fighting on their territory.’
Regardless of the video editing fiasco, Russia proceeded to issue an arrest warrant for the GOP senator.
The Russian Investigative Committee, the country’s main investigative agency, has proceeded to open a criminal investigation against Graham, the Associated Press reported first.
In addition, the Department of the Interior issued an official warrant on Monday for the arrest of the South Carolina senator, according to the official state registry of wanted criminal suspects.
Graham responded in a statement Monday, saying he would wear the warrant as a “sign of honor.”
“I will wear as a badge of honor the arrest warrant issued by Putin’s corrupt and immoral government,” Graham said. “To know that my devotion to Ukraine has drawn the wrath of Putin’s regime makes me immensely happy. I will stand for the freedom of Ukraine until every Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory.”
“Finally, here is an offer to my Russian ‘friends’ who will arrest and try me for accusing the Putin regime of war criminals: I will submit to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court if you do.”
‘Come and do your best. See you in The Hague!’ he added.
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan – RT’s editor-in-chief – was offended by Graham’s comments in the short version of the video where she cited the name of a Soviet lieutenant responsible for the murder of politicians during World War II.
“If Lady Graham really said that the money for killing Russians is the best money the US has ever spent… I hope that in our country Sudoplatov’s sons or grandchildren [the Lieutenant] are alive, his disciples or the descendants of his disciples.
‘It’s not even difficult. We have his address,’ she threatened.
“I am not ill-willed towards anyone and our religion says we should forgive, but nobody says we should reward this kind of thing. Not responding to these things is the same as encouraging them. It makes them more and more brutal,” Simonyan continued.
Simonyan has been a fierce defender of President Vladimir Putin and has said being targeted by “vengeful Ukrainians” has made her feel “unpleasant”.
On Sunday, Graham fought back over anger from Russian officials.
“As usual, the Russian propaganda machine is hard at work,” Graham said in a statement, referring to Medvedev’s comments about his visit to Kiev, which had urged Washington to send more weapons to Ukraine.
Graham said he told Zelensky “Ukraine has adopted the American mantra ‘Live Free or Die.’ It has been a good investment by the United States to help free Ukraine from Russian war criminals.”
He added, “Mr. Medvedev, if you want no more Russians to die in Ukraine, back off. Stop the invasion. Stop the war crimes. The truth is that you and (President Vladimir) Putin could care less about Russian soldiers,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen next to RT broadcaster editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, 43, in December 2022
Other Russian officials were also quick to condemn Graham’s comments.
“It is hard to imagine a greater shame for a country than to have such senators,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Shot Telegram channel.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called Graham, a 67-year-old Republican, an old fool.
“Old foolish Senator Lindsey Graham said the United States has never spent money more successfully than on the murder of Russians,” said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev. ‘He shouldn’t have done that.
Russian officials, including Simonyan, condemned Graham for telling Ukrainian President Zelensky that the best money Washington had ever spent was because ‘Russians are dying’
However, it appears that Graham’s comments were misrepresented or taken out of context in a longer version of the meeting. Graham will be photographed in Kiev, Ukraine, on Friday
Clerics take part in a funeral ceremony to bury the remains of 60 Russian armed forces soldiers and three civilians killed in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict at a cemetery in Luhansk, Russian-controlled Ukraine earlier this month
After the meeting, Graham urged the Joe Biden administration to provide more aid to Ukraine
Graham said that in the forthcoming counter-offensive, the Russian army would have unleashed ‘holy hell’ on itself
“In his beloved America, not only are ordinary people killed on a regular basis, but black money is also spent on assassinating senators. He should remember the sad fate of Robert Kennedy, Huey Long, Clementa Carlos Pinckney, John Milton Elliott, Wayne Owens and other American politicians,” Medvedev said as he pulled together a list of murdered politicians.
Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov also reacted angrily.
“Your filthy American money also fully supported the Nazi regime in Germany! You are a Nazi beast and you follow in the footsteps of your predecessors. I repeat it again: you will croak, but the Russian people will live forever!’
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in Twitter comments that the best investment the United States and the West could make was “in a complete and unconditional victory of Ukraine.”