On May 28, 2023, a great excitement called a video from a meeting of the American parliamentarian with the President of Ukraine. We checked whether this quote for Lindsay Graham is reliable.

According to the media, on May 26, the American Senator Lindsay Graham during a meeting in Kyiv with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said literally the following: “The Russians are dying. We have never spent the money so successfully. ” In many sources, the news was accompanied by a short video with the specified quote.

Graham's statement caused a wide resonance in Russian political circles. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov Commented His phrase "It is difficult to imagine more shame for the country than to have such senators." Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova called Graham the “Nazi rhetoric”, and the State Duma deputy Dmitry Belik I saw in them a recognition in Satanism. Ex-president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev called the American policy as an “old fool”, and the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin instructed It is a criminal case against Lindsay Graham in connection with the words "on the financial participation of the United States in causing death to Russian citizens." After that Ministry of Internal Affairs Russia put the senator on the wanted list.

The leading Russian media cited Lindsay Graham (TASS, RBC, "RIA Novosti"). She received special distribution in Telegram - in channels "Ax 18+ " (2 million views at the time of writing of the analysis), "The world today with "Yuri Podolyak""(1.7 million), Readovka (834,000) "The ax live"(642 000),"Live broadcast"(619 000),"Before everyone else. Well, almost"(502 000),"Operation Z: Warrixes of Russian Spring"(497 000),"Ukraine now: news, war, Russia"(465 000),"Adam Delimkhanov" (395,000) and "All -seeing eye Ukraine"(362 000).

In the evening On May 26, on the website of the Presidential Administration, news appeared that Vladimir Zelensky held a meeting with US Senator Lindsay Graham, who visited the country for the third time since the beginning of a full -scale Russian invasion. Judging by the press release, much attention in the conversation was paid to the supply of American weapons to Ukraine and financial assistance.

On the same day in the official channel of the Ukrainian president in Telegram appeared and a 76-second video report from the meeting. From the 30th second there you can hear the following dialogue.

Zelensky: Now you are free (now you are free).

Graham: Yes (yes).

Zelensky: And we will be (and we will be too).

Graham: And the Russians are dying. The Best Money We’ve Ever Spent (and Russians are dying. Our best waste of money for all the time).

So, indeed, from the content of the video, which was common by the administration of the Ukrainian president, we can decide that the senator from South Carolina spoke so strangely about the death of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. However, the change of plans in the middle of the phrase does not allow to talk about it with confidence.

The Reuters International Information Agency turned to the office of the President of Ukraine and published Video report, giving a more complete idea of the conversation held in Kyiv. In his first part, you can hear how Lindsay Graham “Our Best Send for ALL” sounds not at the moment when it comes to the death of Russians, but in response to the gratitude of Vladimir Zelensky for the provision of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $ 38 billion. And immediately, without installation, the senator reports that he came to visit the 457th day of the war, which, as Russia expected, will be completed within three days. According to him, Ukrainians, resisting the invasion, reminded him of the "best of themselves in America."

Graham: In the USA there was a time when we were the same, ready to fight to the last person, to be free or die.

Zelensky: Now you are free.

Graham: Yes.

Zelensky: And we will.

Graham: And the Russians are dying.

Zelensky: Yes. But they came to our territory. We are not fighting on their territory.

Thus, in fact, the words “Russians are dying” and “we have never spent money so successfully” were uttered by Senator Lindsay Graham at different moments of conversation with Vladimir Zelensky and are in no way connected in meaning. Moreover, in the original video, even the order of these statements is the opposite. Scandalous interpretation Refuted and the senator himself, although in the Russian Foreign Ministry They saidIt is no longer possible to “wash yourself from such words, even if they were pronounced.” It should be noted that in this case, the root cause of the scandal was not the machinations of Russian propaganda, but a mistake or a targeted distortion of information from the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons