US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s words, which were the subject of the scandal, were voiced at various points during her meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This was reported by Reuters.
Initially, the press service of the head of Ukraine published an edited version of the video of the meeting between Graham and Zelensky. There’s a snippet right after the senator says, “The Russians are dying,” and then Graham says, “This is the best way to spend our money.”
At the request of Reuters, Ukrainian officials provided the full version of the video from the politicians meeting. During a speech about historical parallels, Graham uttered the phrase “And the Russians are dying” – the senator noted that the Ukrainian struggle reminded him of heroic moments in American history.
“There was a time when we were like this, fighting to the last man, when we wanted to be free or die,” Graham said.
In response, Zelensky said in English that as Americans become free, “Ukrainians will be free.” Then Graham says “and the Russians are dying” and Zelensky replied, “Yes, but they came to our area. We are not fighting in their land.”
Against this background, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on behalf of its chairman, Alexander Bastrykin. “The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Bastrykin, has instructed the Main Investigation Department to file a criminal case against the US senator’s statements regarding the killing of Russians,” the ministry said in a statement.
The database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation states that “American Graham Lindsey Olin, born July 9, 1955, is wanted under the article of the Criminal Code.”
Graham’s phrase “the best possible waste of money” was uttered another time when Zelensky thanked Kiev for American military assistance.
“As usual, the Russian propaganda machine is working very hard,” Lindsey Graham told Reuters soon after.
Graham also responded to criticism from Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council. “If you want to stop the Russians from dying in Ukraine, go. Stop the invasion. Stop war crimes,” the senator insisted.
A shortened version of the video released the previous day of the meeting between Graham and Zelensky caused outrage among Russian officials and the federal media. “It’s hard to imagine a greater shame for the country than having such senators,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said about the video at the time.
Medvedev recalled several assassinations of US senators, including Robert Kennedy, on his Telegram channel. “In his beloved America, not only are ordinary people regularly killed, but dirty money is also spent killing senators,” Medvedev wrote.