Russia has placed Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, on a wanted list, state-run media reported on Monday.
“Graham, Lindsey Olin, American, born July 9, 1955, is wanted under the article of the Criminal Code,” the Russian Interior Ministry said, news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported, without specifying what crime he is suspected of.
Graham visited Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on Friday, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, telling him that U.S. military aid to the country was “the best money we’ve ever spent.” The Kremlin rebuked his remarks, referring to an edited video in which Graham appeared to praise the killing of Russians in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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The edited video was released by Zelensky’s office, showing Graham in his meeting with Zelensky saying “the Russians are dying” followed by the remarks about sending U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
Newsweek has contacted Graham’s press secretary and Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
After his remarks were criticized by Russia, Ukraine released a full video of the meeting which showed the two quotes were not linked. According to Reuters, the two remarks made by Graham were made in different parts of his conversation with the Ukrainian president.
The United States provided Ukraine with $46.6 billion in military assistance between January 2022 and February 2023, according to the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
The latest developments come shortly after Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president, published a post on his Telegram channel suggesting that in the U.S., “dirty money” is spent on “killing senators.”
“The old fool Senator Lindsey Graham said that the United States has never spent money so well as on killing Russians. In vain is it so. In his beloved America, not only ordinary people are regularly killed, but dirty money is spent on killing senators,” he wrote on Sunday.
Graham responded, in a statement sent to Reuters, that he had told Zelensky “it has been a good investment by the United States to help liberate Ukraine from Russian war criminals.” He added: “Mr. Medvedev, if you want Russians to stop dying in Ukraine, withdraw. Stop the invasion. Stop the war crimes.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Graham on Sunday, calling the senator’s comments “Russophobic.”
“Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia A.I. Bastrykin instructed the Main Investigation Department to initiate a criminal investigation into the statements of the U.S. senator about the murder of Russians,” the committee said in a statement.
Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, responded to the initial clip of Graham’s remarks, saying: “It’s hard to imagine a greater shame for the country than having such senators.”
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