WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Republican Sen. John McCain insisted he is "more pro-Russian"
than President Vladimir Putin, accusing Putin of corruption, repression
and self-serving rule in an opinion piece for Pravda newspaper answering
the Russian leader's broadside last week in The New York Times.
"I
am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you
today," McCain wrote. "I make that claim because I respect your dignity
and your right to self-determination."
"President
Putin doesn't believe in these values because he doesn't believe in
you," McCain wrote. "He doesn't believe that human nature at liberty can
rise above its weaknesses and build just, peaceful, prosperous
societies. Or, at least, he doesn't believe Russians can. So he rules by
using those weaknesses, by corruption, repression and violence. He
rules for himself, not you," McCain wrote.
In
an op-ed headlined "Russians deserve better than Putin," McCain singled
out Putin and his associates for punishing dissent, specifically the
death in prison of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The Russian
presidential human rights council found in 2011 that Magnitsky, who had
accused Russian officials of colluding with organized criminals, had
been beaten and denied medical treatment.
McCain
also criticized Putin for siding with Syrian President Bashar Assad in
the 2 1/2-year civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.
McCain's
opinion piece was published Thursday on the news website Pravda.ru, a
website established by former Pravda journalists. The newspaper Pravda
is an organ of the Communist Party and is no longer an influential or
widely read newspaper, in contrast to its huge presence in the Soviet
Union's media landscape.
McCain assailed Putin
and his associates for writing laws that codify bigotry, specifically
legislation on sexual orientation. A new Russian law imposes fines and
up to 15 days in prison for people accused of spreading "propaganda of
nontraditional sexual relations" to minors.
On Syria, McCain said Putin is siding with a tyrant.
"He
is not enhancing Russia's global reputation. He is destroying it. He
has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and
untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and
prosperous world," the Arizona senator said.
McCain
also criticized the imprisonment of the punk rock band Pussy Riot. The
three women were convicted of hooliganism after staging an anti-Putin
protest inside a Russian Orthodox Church.
The
article by McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, comes just
days after the U.S. and Russian officials reached an ambitious agreement
that calls for an inventory of Syria's chemical weapons program within a
week and its complete eradication by mid-2014. Diplomatic wrangling
continues, however.
In his own op-ed last
week, Putin blamed opposition forces for the latest deadly chemical
weapons attack in Syria and argued President Barack Obama's remarks
about America were self-serving. Putin also wrote in the Times that it
was dangerous for America to think of itself as exceptional, a reference
to comments Obama had made.
McCain was not
the first U.S. lawmaker to respond to Putin. House Armed Services
Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., wrote in a piece for
the Moscow Times about the suppression of the Russian people and the
disregard for basic human rights.
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