On Thursday night, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) joked to CNN's Jake Tapper that he would love to write an op-ed for Pravda, a Russian publication, to respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times on Wednesday.
Now, that looks like it's becoming a reality.
Dmitry Sudakov, the English editor of Pravda,told Foreign Policy on Friday that McCain would be "welcome" to write an opinion piece for the newspaper. McCain's spokesman, Brian Rogers, confirmed that he will submit a piece.
"Mr. McCain has been an active anti-Russian politician for many years already," Sudakov told Foreign Policy. "We have been critical of his stance on Russia and international politics in our materials, but we would be only pleased to publish a story penned by such a prominent politician as John McCain."
Putin's op-ed in the Times caused a stir in the U.S., especially for its challenge to American "exceptionalism"— which Putin called "dangerous." Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it made him "want to vomit."
It's not likely that McCain will face as fair-minded of a staff as Putin found with the Times. Pravda is associated with the Communist Party of Russia. Here's a look at the sidebar of its website right now:
