Tributes flow for John McCain but Russian media remembers a committed enemy who ‘adored war’
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a message of condolences, but none was forthcoming from Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian pro-Kremlin media pulled no punches on Monday in condemning John McCain, who died of a brain tumour at the weekend, as Washington’s “chief Russophobe”.
McCain, who died aged 81 on Saturday, irked Russia with his support for pro-Western leaders in ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine as well as his strong backing for sanctions over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.
“McCain became the chief symbol of Russophobia,” Rossiya 1 television said, adding that he “couldn’t stand Russia’s independent foreign policy”.
McCain “adored war. If you haven’t been killed yet, that’s not McCain’s fault. He tried,” wrote pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda in a biting editorial.
Accusing the former Navy pilot of lying about being tortured while being held prisoner during the Vietnam war, the popular tabloid concluded with the hope that McCain is now burning in hell.
“Senator McCain loved the flames of war. Let’s believe he’ll have enough flames where his soul is resting now,” it wrote.
Life News, a pro-Kremlin tabloid news site, mocked the “chief Russophobe” for his decision to publish a 2013 op-ed aimed at Russians on an obscure news site called Pravda.ru.