US Senator Lindsey Graham Placed on Kremlin's Wanted List

Facts

• On Monday, Russia’s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for US Senator Lindsey Graham following the lawmaker's comments on the conflict in Ukraine released last Friday.¹
• In a video released by Ukraine’s presidential office — splicing together differing periods of Graham’s conversation with Ukraine's Pres. Zelenskyy — the Senator’s comments have led to backlash from Russia.²
• Within the video, the Republican stated that 'the Russians are dying' and, later on, added that the US funding for Ukraine has been 'the best money we've ever spent.'³
• Russia’s Investigative Committee also opened a criminal case against the senator, claiming that the video shows Graham admitting that the financial investment of the US in Ukraine is directly causing Russian fatalities.⁴
• While Ukraine has subsequently released the unedited, full-length version of the video, Russia’s foreign ministry has urged Graham to clarify publicly whether or not he believes Ukraine took his comments out of context.⁵
• In response to Russia’s sanctions against him, Graham stated that he will wear the arrest warrant as a 'badge of honor,' also claiming that knowing he has 'drawn the ire” of the Putin regime has given him 'immense joy.'⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²ABC News, ³CBS, ⁴The Hill, ⁵Reuters and ⁶Live5News.

Narratives

• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. What Graham said cannot be unsaid, and now the Western propaganda machine — led by the likes of the BBC and Reuters — is attempting to de-escalate the situation. The idea that Graham’s statements were taken out of context is a clumsy and shameless excuse to hide the continued hatred of Russia by the West.
• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by The Western Journal. The posted comments by Graham were originally edited together, and it's incredibly unlikely anything will come from Russia’s arrest warrant. With the US and Russia lacking an extradition treaty, and relations between the West and Russia at a low, it is difficult to see this absurd posturing by the Kremlin progressing any further.

Predictions