Why does Lindsey Graham have a warrant for his arrest in Russia?

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has gotten himself into quite the interesting situation on the global stage after comments the South Carolina Republican made during a visit to Kyiv were leaked. But what did Graham say and why are the Russians so angry?

Graham traveled to Kyiv on May 26th and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and a group of his closest government advisors to express his support for Ukraine’s resistance and to show American support in the face of growing resistance to the war in Ukraine. 

However, the Senator from South Carolina eventually became a part of the propaganda battle after comments he made about the war and American support for it were taken out of context and used by both sides to support their domestic narratives. 

In a short video clip that made its rounds across the information sphere, Graham can be heard commenting “and the Russians are dying,” before the clip quickly edits to another point during the meeting where the senator says: “It's the best money we’ve ever spent.”

There were thirty more seconds of conversation between Graham and Zelensky but it was the bit about Russians dying and it being the best money the United States had ever spent that really seemed to anger officials in Moscow who moved quickly to respond. 

"The old fool Senator Lindsey Graham said that the United States has never spent money so successfully as on the murder of Russians," explained the former Russia President and current Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev.

"He shouldn't have done that,” Medvedev added according to a Reuters report. But Graham didn’t let the words affect him, telling Reuters in an email that “as usual the Russia propaganda is working hard—adding that the Ukrainians had chosen to “Live Free or Die.”

Graham added that he did believe the American investment into Ukrainian liberty had been a good one and also explained to Reuters that if Dmitry Medvedev didn’t like it there was an easy solution—Russia could always just withdraw its army from Ukraine. 

"Mr. Medvedev, if you want Russians to stop dying in Ukraine, withdraw. Stop the invasion. Stop the war crimes. The truth is that you and [President Vladimir] Putin could care less about Russian soldiers," Graham said. 

Kremlin Press Secretary Dimitry Peskov balked at Graham’s original video comments and said: “It’s hard to imagine a greater shame for the country than having such senators.” But the Kremlin wasn't stopping at hurtful words about the quality of American senators. 

According to the Associated Press, Russia’s top criminal investigative agency opened a criminal inquiry into Senator Graham and his comments, and Russia’s Interior Minister later issued a warrant for the South Carolina Republicans' arrest as a wanted criminal. 

Graham has taken his newfound infamy in stride and shrugged off his criminal warrant, explaining that he planned to wear it as a “badge of honor” according to BBC News.

"To know that my commitment to Ukraine has drawn the ire of Putin's regime brings me immense joy," Graham wrote in a tweet on May 28th. "I will continue to stand with and for Ukraine's freedom until every Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory."

"Finally, here's an offer to my Russian 'friends' who want to arrest and try me for calling out the Putin regime as being war criminals," Graham added, “I will submit to jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court if you do.” A powerful comment from a brave senator. 

In the end, it turned out the video clip of Graham was altered according to a fact check from Reuters, which found in a longer version of the video, Graham said that the best money the U.S. had ever spent was in response to a prompt on military assistance.

And that bit about the Russians dying? It was uttered after Zelensky had said: “Now you are free. And we will be too.” It was never made just before any comments about money, which could lead some to believe the shorter clip was intended as propaganda. 

Who produced the shorter clip and why might never be known. But the entire situation in Kyiv revealed the current state of geopolitics surrounding the war in Ukraine. Small missteps and untruths could someday lead to the type of escalation that nobody one wants, and Lindsey Graham's situation is a perfect example of that.