Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman compares US senator to Hitler

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova compared US Senator Lindsey Graham to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Tuesday after he was caught on video applauding the deaths of Russian soldiers in the Ukraine war.

Commenting on Graham saying "the Russians are dying. It’s the best money we’ve ever spent" at a meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Zakharova said on Telegram that the lawmaker is thinking like "Hitler and his henchmen."

She rejected claims that Ukraine's presidential office edited the video as "pathetic excuses,” insisting this does not change the essence of what was said.

Regarding the "pecuniary" aspect of Graham's remarks, she said that such "investments" in the 20th century led to the Holocaust and World War II.

"This is the quintessence of the Western approach to Russia, which 'must be destroyed.' This is how Hitler and his henchmen thought...Now Senator Lindsey Graham is only reproducing what many politicians in the US have in mind, without embellishment and utterly naked," she stressed.

Zakharova reminded that earlier, Graham called on the US to shoot down Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea and kill Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She said the decision by Russia’s Interior Ministry to put the senator on a wanted list is "a well-deserved and long-awaited measure."

Turning to remarks by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Zakharova called his claim that Russia was preparing an attack on Eastern Europe "ridiculous.”

She said Kissinger follows "the general line of the current US administration," which is dominated by the imperative to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia.

Zakharova said the former top US diplomat is "under the illusion of an 'imminent victory' (of Ukraine over Russia) and a false conviction that Moscow will agree to a settlement according to the Western scenario."

"The emphasis is made on the supposition that Russia is almost done with, and it will be possible to deal closely with China -- a dangerous delusion for America, but objectively beneficial to us, because the victory will be ours.”