After the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham called for the United States government to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.
In response, Russian state media announced that Graham, a fanatic Russia hawk, had been placed on a terror watchlist, which is monitored by Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’ state financial monitoring agency. This move came after Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s death in prison.
“Navalny was one of the bravest people I ever met. When he went back to Russia he had to know he was going to be killed by Putin, and he was murdered by Putin,” Graham declared on February 18, 2024 in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“President Biden told Putin, if something happens to Navalny, you’re going to pay a price. President Biden, I agree with you, the price they should pay is to make Russia a state sponsor of terrorism,” the South Carolina Senator continued.
Navalny’s death provoked international outrage. The Russian opposition figure was targeted on multiple occasions over the years and was previously jailed and poisoned. Navalny’s death came a month before presidential elections in Russia, where Putin is expected to win decisively.
Putin has been in power in some capacity or form since 1999. The nature of Navalny’s death will probably never be revealed. Nonetheless, it should be of no concern to the US due to how it’s a purely Russian internal matter.
With the US’s southern border imploding, exploding crime, and a stagnant economy, the last thing the US needs to do is to get involved in another foreign conflict over a trivial domestic affair.