John McCain Says Russia Snowden Asylum Decision Is 'Slap In The Face Of All Americans'

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) released an angry statement on Thursday in response to reports that NSA leaker Edward Snowden has left Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport for an undisclosed location after Russia granted him a one-year asylum. "Russia's action today is a disgrace and a deliberate effort to embarrass the United States. It is a slap in the face of all Americans," the senator's statement read. It also called on the United States to "fundamentally rethink our relationship with [President Vladimir] Putin's Russia" to push back against "the many human violators who are still enjoying a culture of impunity in Russia".

McCain suggested that the US "significantly expand the Magnitsky Act list" - a law which imposes sanctions on Russian state officials and civil servants who were alleged to be involved in the imprisonment of Sergey Magnitsky, an accountant and auditor with a British investment fund who died in prison while under investigation for tax fraud, according to RT. Officials on the list are prohibited from entering the US or using the US banking system.

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"We should push for the completion of all phases of our missile defense programs in Europe," the statement continued, "and move expeditiously on another round of NATO expansion, including the Republic of Georgia. We should challenge the political convictions and detentions of Russian dissidents such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Alexei Navalny. And perhaps most importantly, we should speak out on behalf of the many people in Russia who increasingly are finding the courage to peacefully demand greater freedom, accountability, and rule of law in Russia.

"Today's action by Putin's Russia should finally strip away the illusions that many Americans have had about Russia the past few years. We have long needed to take a more realistic approach to our relations with Russia, and I hope today we finally start."

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The Arizona senator has never liked Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the campaign trail leading up to the 2008 presidential elections, he was fond of saying that where George W. Bush looked into Putin's eyes and saw a trustworthy soul, McCain saw "a K and a G and a B", a reference to the former Soviet Union intelligence service of which Putin was once an agent. More recently, in a June interview with CNN, McCain said the Obama administration needed to get tough with Russia in their attempts to persuade it to extradite Snowden and called Putin "an old KGB colonel apparatchik that dreams of the days of the Russian empire".

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"When you withdraw to fortress America, when you believe in light footprints, when you show the world you're leading from behind, these are the consequences of American leadership," McCain said of Obama's leadership, adding, "That does not mean confrontation, but steadfast adherence to the principles many presidents since the Cold War and before have stood for that the rest of the world will respect."

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a Democrat who often collaborates with McCain on legislation, called for President Obama to move the upcoming G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, saying Russia "has stabbed us in the back". He and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had previously sponsored legislation proposing such a move, and Graham repeated his call for it to happen in a statement.