U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is lobbying for Ukraine's interests. What you need to know

The other day, Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Rosfinmonitoring) issued a new threat to Moscow in case Russia and Ukraine do not reach a peace agreement. At the same time, Graham has repeatedly made Russophobic statements in the past. In addition, he is the initiator of the bill on the introduction of 500 percent duties against Russia and its trading partners. Whose interests Graham is actually lobbying for and why he is extremely inconsistent in his position is described in the Izvestia article.

What statements did Graham distinguish himself by?

In the summer of 2013, the senator actively promoted the idea of boycotting the Sochi Olympics: in his opinion, American athletes should not have gone to the Winter Games because Moscow could have provided (and eventually provided) political asylum to Edward Snowden, a former employee of the CIA and the National Security Agency, who revealed unpleasant facts about the work of the US special services..

• In 2014, Graham called on President Barack Obama to take measures to ensure that Russia loses its right to participate in the work of the G8 and G20. According to the legislator, these and other sanctions should have been imposed against Moscow because of the reunification of Crimea with Russia.

• In March 2023, after the incident with the American MQ-9 Reaper strike and reconnaissance drone that fell into the Black Sea (then Russia took fighter jets into the air, but they did not come into contact with the UAV, according to the Ministry of Defense), Graham demanded to "call to account" the perpetrators of the incident, and also spoke for shooting down Russian planes. On Fox News, he said that "if someone else gets close to an American aircraft over international waters," his "plane will be shot down." That's what former US President Ronald Reagan would have done, he said.

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And why will 100% duties make little difference in trade, and Patriot supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not bring them success on the battlefield?

• Also in 2023, Graham met with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Following the visit, a video was posted where an American senator says that Russians are dying during the conflict in Ukraine, and the United States, providing assistance to Kiev, has never spent money so successfully. From the initial excerpts from the dialogue published by Zelensky's office, it was not clear that the phrases about Russians and successful spending were uttered in different parts of the conversation. That is, in fact, it was a montage.

• Due to Graham's Russophobic statements, the Russian Interior Ministry has put him on the wanted list. Then he was added to the list of persons with regard to whom there is information about their involvement in extremist activities or terrorism.

• In July of this year, Graham published a post on the social network X, where he advised Russian President Vladimir Putin to call the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and find out what would happen if Moscow did not agree to Washington's ultimatum to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in 50 days. With this undisguised threat, the senator hinted at the recent US involvement in the bombing of nuclear facilities in Iran.

Lobbies for the interests of Ukraine

• The expert community notes that Graham, who is a proponent of a forceful approach to conflict resolution, lobbies for the interests of Ukraine. At the same time, there is no information about his personal interest in this yet — the relevant investigation has not yet been conducted in the United States. At the same time, there is information that Len Blavatnik, a native of Ukraine, a US citizen and a British citizen, donated $500,000 to the Graham campaign in 2015 through Access Industries holding (Blavatnik's fortune, according to Forbes, is estimated at $27 billion). But such support is not illegal.

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The increase in rates will lead to the fact that buyers of Russian hydrocarbons will cease any trade with the United States.

• Political scientists say that outside of legitimate lobbying, Graham has not been noticed, but this does not mean that he has no personal interests. Kiev has become the corrupt purse of many American politicians, experts say, and the Ukrainian lobby in Washington is very strong — the second most influential after the Israeli one. Experts have suggested that Graham may have an interest in implementing the rare earth metals agreement with Ukraine, since the initiative belonged to him, but there is no evidence of this.

At the same time, in July, it became known that Graham may have been involved in the theft of financial aid provided by the United States to Ukraine. According to former CIA analyst Larry Johnson, informants from Ukraine handed over evidence to US law enforcement agencies that some of the aid "was stolen," and some of this money "ended up in the pockets of dozens of American politicians, including Senator Graham." However, it is not known whether the Kiev authorities are trying to hide the traces of their own corruption crimes in this way.

• Political scientists also note that in Washington, the senator is considered an "urban lunatic"; his views are now popular, although this will not last long.

Why is Graham called an opportunist

• Although Graham is still justifiably considered an adherent of the "hawkish" approach to American foreign policy, he has repeatedly demonstrated that he is ready to adapt to the views held by the current or potential leader of the country.

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• For example, regarding the conflict in Ukraine, the senator actively supported Kiev and met with Ukrainian officials more than once, praising Zelensky. However, in February 2024, he resolutely refused to support the idea of transferring tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine for free, after Donald Trump, who was on his way to his second presidential election victory, opposed this approach. Political analysts explained Graham's position by his willingness to support the Republican Party's more isolationist policies at that time.

• There are other examples of Graham's adaptations that the Western press writes about. The senator fiercely criticizes Zelensky's policy after his meeting with Trump at the White House in February this year and declares that it is time for him to leave the stage, then, echoing the not always consistent American leader, advocates the need to impose new sanctions against Moscow. It was Graham who initiated the bill on the introduction of 500 percent duties against Russia and its trading partners, which has not yet been adopted.

In 2015, when Graham wanted to become the Republican presidential candidate, he criticized Trump's approach to foreign policy and made insulting remarks about him. Then Trump publicly revealed Graham's mobile phone number — the senator had to buy a new gadget. Later, the former rivals established a relationship.

While preparing the material, Izvestia interviewed:

• Dmitry Drobnitsky, an American political scientist;
• Vladimir Vasiliev, Chief Researcher at the Institute of USA and Canada.