Putin aide slams McCain: Thank God he doesn’t shape foreign policy

by Joe Uchill - 05/22/17 11:32 AM ET

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday slammed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a frequent critic of the Kremlin, for the senator’s “rude attacks.”

“Thank God, this gentleman is not the one who shapes or implements U.S. foreign policy,” Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state news service TASS. “Therefore we will naturally avoid exaggerating the significance of these insulting and rude attacks or linking them with bilateral Russian-U.S. relations somehow.”

McCain during an interview on Sunday said he was “speechless” about an Oval Office meeting between President Trump and a Russian delegation including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

{mosads}”I know this: Mr. Lavrov is the stooge of a thug and a murderer,” McCain told “Fox News Sunday,” presumably referring to Putin. “He had no business in the Oval Office.”

Peskov noted that McCain has uttered “insults on several occasions before,” but said the Republican’s latest comments went “over the line of decency and departed from a tone appropriate for a statesman.”

Russian state-run media also slapped McCain after the comments. The Sputnik website ran the headline “Twitter on McCain: ‘Butt-Hurt, Russia-Obsessed’ Senator ‘Has Lost His Mind.'”

“I’m always flattered to receive such accolades from our Russian friends!” McCain tweeted on Monday morning.