- Russia issued an arrest warrant for Lindsey Graham after an edited video of him was posted online.
- The edited clip suggests that Graham was celebrating Russian troops dying in the war.
Sen. Lindsey Graham is now a wanted man in Russia after an edited video of him was released, where he appeared to celebrate the deaths of Russian soldiers.
Graham said in a statement on Monday that he would "wear the arrest warrant issued by Putin's corrupt and immoral government as a Badge of Honor."
"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: I will submit to jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court if you do. Come and make your best case. See you in The Hague!" Graham said in the statement.
He also later tweeted that he had found a "great lawyer" who would aid him if he were to be tried by Russia — though he doesn't think he stands a chance of getting a fair trial in the country.
—Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 29, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office released an edited video from Graham's visit to Kyiv on Friday, where two clips of Graham were stitched together.
In the first clip, the South Carolina Republican is heard saying: "The Russians are dying." Immediately after, in the second clip, he is heard saying that US military assistance to Ukraine has been "the best money we've ever spent."
—Frontline Politics (@FrontlinePol) May 28, 2023
The sequence of statements in the edited video, which made it appear that Graham was jubilant about Russians dying, angered Russian officials. Russian news agency Tass reported that the Russian Interior Ministry had placed Graham on a wanted list.
"Lindsey Olin Graham, an American citizen, born on July 9, 1955, is wanted under an article of the Russian Criminal Code," the ministry wrote, per Tass.
However, it did not specify what crime Graham is wanted for.
Angry Russians have also called for Graham's assassination, including Margarita Simonyan, the chief editor of Russian state broadcaster RT. She said on Sunday that Russia may need to call on the help of "sons or grandchildren" of Pavel Sudoplatov, a Soviet spy who was involved in the assassination of the Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky.
Graham has historically expressed a strong opposition against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration. In March 2022, he called for a Julius Caesar-style assassination of Putin, tweeting: "Is there a Brutus in Russia?"
Graham's representatives did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.