Former Russian President accuses US of 'killing senators' as Lindsey Graham put on 'wanted' list

Senior United States senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the capital city of Ukraine, Kyiv, on Friday 26 May.

An edited video of their meeting appears to show Graham saying that 'the Russians are dying. It’s the best money we’ve ever spent', sparking massive backlash in Russia.

However, in reality, Graham told Zelenskyy:

There was a time in America that we were this way, fighting to the last person, we were going to be free or die.

Zelenskyy responded: 'Now you are free—and we will be', to which Graham said: 'And the Russians are dying'. Zelenskyy answered:

Yes, but they came to our territory. We are not fighting on their territory.

Graham actually said that the US providing military aid to Ukraine was 'the best money we've ever spent'.

Lindsey Graham is on Russia's 'wanted' list

Russia's Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against the senator on Sunday 28 May, describing his comments as 'Russophobic'. The committee said in a statement:

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 Kremlin has also issued an arrest warrant for Graham. According to news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Monday 29 May, without mentioning the crime he is suspected of:

Graham, Lindsey Olin, American, born July 9, 1955, is wanted under the article of the Criminal Code.

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Lindsey Graham warned of assassination

It comes after Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and former president, accused the US of spending 'dirty money' on 'killing senators'. He wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday:

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 then issued a thinly-veiled threat:

He should recall the sad fate of Robert Kennedy, Huey Long, Clementa Carlos Pinckney, John Milton Elliott, Wayne Owens and other American politicians.

On Russian state TV on Sunday, the head of RTMargarita Simonyan also warned, while referring to Soviet Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov, who was involved in the assassination of Leon Trotsky:

If Lady Graham really said that the money for the killing of Russians is the best money the US ever spent... I hope that in our country, the sons or grandchildren of Sudoplatov are alive, his pupils, or the descendants of his pupils. It’s not even hard. We have his address.

Sources used:

Newsweek: 'Lindsey Graham Placed on Wanted List as Russia Threatens 'Killing Senators''

Independent: 'Russia calls for Lindsey Graham’s assassination after controversial comments about ‘dying Russians’'

Daily Beast: 'Head of RT Calls for Lindsey Graham’s Assassination After Edited Video'