Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham bitterly mocked Secretary of State John Kerry for threatening to cut off Syrian talks with Russia — dismissing it as a toothless ultimatum.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin "must be scared now," the Arizona senator mean-tweeted Wednesday.
In a joint statement, the senators sarcastically taunted Kerry, declaring, "We can only imagine that having heard the news, Vladimir Putin has called off his bear hunt and is rushing back to the Kremlin to call off Russian airstrikes on hospitals, schools and humanitarian aid convoys around Aleppo."
"After all, butchering the Syrian people to save the Assad regime is an important Russian goal. But not if it comes at the unthinkable price of dialogue with Secretary Kerry."
The sarcastic rebuke follows the State Department's earlier statement announcing Kerry had told his Russian counterpart the United Sates would end talks with Russia if bomb strike in Aleppo don't stop.
"Finally, a real power move in American diplomacy," McCain and Graham, of South Carolina, acidly replied. "Secretary of State John 'Not Delusional' Kerry has made the one threat the Russians feared most — the suspension of U.S.-Russia bilateral talks about Syria. No more lakeside tête-à-têtes at five-star hotels in Geneva. No more joint press conferences in Moscow."
McCain called Kerry "intrepid but delusion" for negotiating with Russia, and Kerry has batted back the description, saying "talk was cheap" and challenging Congress to act, The Hill reports.
Both McCain and Graham have advocated for sending more U.S. troops to the Middle East, but to fight the Islamic State, not to intervene in the Syrian civil war, Politico reports.
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