17 July 2013, 16:59
US Congressman urges Obama to boycott Sochi Olympics if Russia shelters Snowden
US Senator Lindsey Graham has called to boycott the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, if Russia grants political asylum to former CIA employee Edward Snowden.
According to the Senator, "Snowden's asylum will be a blow on the laws and a slap on the United States," the "Kommersant" quotes Senator Graham with reference to the newspaper "The Hill".
In their turn, Russian politicians have stated that a boycott of the Olympics will throw the States and Russia back to the level of the "cold war".
"The Senator Graham's call for a boycott of the Olympics due to the Snowden's case is throwing us to the days of mutual boycotts, when our two countries were looking at each other through, so to speak, a nuclear aiming sight. I'm sure those days are already behind," said Alexei Pushkov, the head of the State Duma Committee for International Affairs.
The statements of the US Senator Lindsey Graham illustrate the inability of the politician to hold constructive dialogue and undermine the reputation of Washington, said Ruslan Gattarov, the head of the Commission of the Russian Federation for Development of Information Society.
"America has got into an extremely uncomfortable situation by running surveillance of citizens all over the world and thus undermined its reputation as a 'beacon of democracy'," said Gattarov.
