McCain: Next stop for Arab Spring could be Russia

“They can change their destiny,” he continued. “They can change their countries. And it appears that message may be resonating with people in Russia.”

In a lengthy floor speech McCain listed complaints he holds against the current Russian regime, lead by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, including the former’s ordering of the military to prepare to “destroy” the command structure of the planned U.S. missile-defense system in Europe, an ongoing threat to weaken NATO’s supply routes into Afghanistan through Russia and the government’s dismal human rights record.

McCain said those were all signs that the Obama administration’s characterization of unthawed relations between the two superpowers as a result of the New START treaty are incorrect.

“After being assured that the New START Treaty would contribute to the improvement of U.S.-Russia relations, and that the Russian government would not use the treaty against us as blackmail, we are now in a situation where the President of Russia is threatening to deploy ballistic missiles to destroy U.S. missile defense systems in Europe … the Russian Ambassador to NATO is threatening to cut off NATO’s supply routes to Afghanistan and planning to visit China and Iran,” said McCain.

McCain also called into to question the legitimacy of Russia’s most recent election pointing to international criticism and dubious results from the polls..