McCain Responds to Putin Op-Ed

Sen. John McCain made good on his word to respond to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s New York Times op-ed on Thursday, calling Putin a corrupt autocrat in a column published on the Russian website Pravda. The op-ed is directed at the Russian people and largely stays away from the current Syria controversy. Instead, McCain focuses on the Putin regime’s crimes against democracy: “They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance.” Addressing a Pravda editor’s remark that McCain is an “anti-Russia politician,” McCain adds, “I am not anti-Russian … I am more pro-Russian than the regime that rules you today.”