You're reading: RFE/RL: US Republican senator blasts Putin’s ‘mafia’ government

RFE/RL: US Republican senator blasts Putin’s ‘mafia’ government

Published July 10, 2018. Updated July 10 at 11:21 am

US Senators Richard Shelby (L) and John Randolph Tune (R) attend a meeting with members of the Russian Federation Council in Moscow on July 3, 2018. Republican US senators met with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a rare visit to Moscow ahead of a summit between the countries' presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Photo by AFP

A U.S. senator who traveled to Russia with a Republican congressional delegation last week said President Vladimir Putin could not be trusted and likened dealing with Moscow to “dealing with the mafia.”

Senator John Kennedy (Republican-Louisiana) also told reporters on July 9 that he warned the Russian government to “stop screwing with American elections.”