A Russian delegation’s tour of the U.S. Capitol, organized by the office of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), is drawing fierce criticism from pro-Ukraine lawmakers, as the conflict with Iran threatens to pull more attention away from Moscow’s four-year war against Kyiv.
“Foreign political operatives of our adversaries should NEVER be allowed on Capitol Hill,” Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) wrote on X Friday. “This ‘visit’ opened the doors to a massive #security threat to the Speaker, to our Congress, and to democracy itself.”
Luna was joined by Republican Reps. Eli Crane (Ariz.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Andy Ogles (Tenn.), as well as Democrat Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), for a meeting, according to a picture posted by Luna. The lawmakers met with a Russian delegation, including Vyacheslav Nikonov, the grandson of an aide to Joseph Stalin, and several members of the Russian Duma’s foreign affairs committee.
They posed for photos outside the United States Institute of Peace and were seen walking through the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
“If I can come to the table in pursuit of peace, then everyone can,” Van Orden said in a statement, pointing to his three years of military service, “working to counter Russian- and Iranian-aligned threats across Europe.” He continued: “The time for killing must end, and the only path to peace is through dialogue or overwhelming force—and we are not going to war with Russia.”
Luna wrote on X Thursday that “we owe our citizens open dialogue, ideas, and open lines of communication.”
“We will continue to foster this dialogue and push for peace in support of this admins push for peace, as well as economic opportunity,” she said. Spokespeople for Crane, Ogles and Gonzalez did not respond to a request for comment.
But several members criticized the House members for holding the meeting at all.
“I find that terribly problematic,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told POLITICO of the visit.
And the criticism didn’t come solely from Democrats.
“As self-declared enemies of the American way of life and perpetrators of heinous mass murder, members of the war criminal Putin regime must not be welcomed in any way,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “I compare this meeting on Capitol Hill as having a visit by the Third Reich.”
When asked about the meeting, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a statement that “Russia’s Putin and his cronies hate America, hate freedom, and want to undermine the U.S. at every step. Their invasion Ukraine is one giant war crime.”
A State Department spokesperson confirmed meetings between members of Congress and Duma representatives on Thursday, and said the Russians would be meeting “a federal government delegation” at the Institute of Peace, which is one of the handful of organizations or buildings that President Donald Trump’s allies has rechristened after him.
The State Department spokesperson said a “junior State Department official will join each of these meeting[s] as a note taker.”
The confab came with Russia under fire for intelligence sharing with Iran amid the U.S. operation, which the European Union argued this week has helped Tehran kill Americans. The Kremlin has said it will cease its collaboration with Iran if the U.S. stops its intel sharing with Ukraine, a proposal flatly rejected by the administration.
“Sanctioned officials do not arrive by accident — they were issued visas, granted waivers and authorized by our own government to be here,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “That decision reduces the costs we have imposed on the Kremlin and grants access and legitimacy at a time when we should be doing the opposite.”
Quigley called the delegation’s trip “yet another extension of the Trump administration’s moral equivalency between Russia and Ukraine in this war.”
Ben Johansen contributed to this report.
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