Support The Moscow Times!

'The Enemy Is Dead': Russia Reacts to U.S. Senator John McCain’s Passing

John McCain (Gage Skidmore / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0))

John McCain, the chairman of the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee, who served as a senator from Arizona for more than three decades, died on Saturday at the age of 81.

While U.S. and world leaders mourned the death of the longtime critic of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Russian policymakers and media personalities openly criticized the late senator for his anti-Kremlin views.


This is how Russia reacted to the news:

Oleg Morozov, member of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee:

“The enemy is dead… May the Lord accept his dark soul and determine its future.”

“He was good in his hatred toward Russia. He was the symbol of contemporary overt anti-Russian thinking.”

“Give him credit for his honest enmity, his honest hatred and intransigence. Others play a double game. He said what he thought.”

— Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-run RT news network:

“As a good Christian, I wish all the staunch enemies of my motherland peace and quiet. In the afterlife, of course.”

— Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov:

“He stood out among American politicians for his inexplicable and incomprehensible resentment of Russia. He didn’t like the very fact of its existence.”

— General Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee:

“Mr. McCain was always an American patriot. Unfortunately, however, the ‘Vietnam Syndrome’ had affected him all his life… He was an outspoken Russophobe over the past decades. Not only did he simply dislike our country, but he in fact hated it. Peace be upon him.”

— Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee:

“His only ideology was to ‘defend your own and attack others,’ where the only criterion was loyalty to America and American interests, and not the criteria of peace, good and justice.”

“In that sense, McCain reflected the era in which he grew up and became a politician. An era of dividing the world into ‘us’ and ‘them.’ A ‘Cold War’ era in which our country was and remained his principle enemy.”

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more