Republican Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday had a meeting with the former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The meeting was part of his week long trip to Russia, The Hill reported.
After the meeting, Paul praised Gorbachev for his understanding that there should be close relations between U.S. and Russia.
“President Gorbachev was instrumental in bringing down the Iron Curtain and restoring ties with the West. … Our conversation further encouraged me that open dialogue between our two nations does not have to be a thing of the past,” Paul said in a statement.
According to The Hill, Paul said that while he discussed “various items” with Gorbachev, the importance of nuclear disarmament was the main topic.
As part of his trip, Paul also met with Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Relations.
The trip comes at a time where U.S. lawmakers are more and more worried that Russia will attempt to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill stated late last month that Russian intelligence agents had targeted her staff with an attempted breach ahead of the November midterms.
Senators are preparing a new legislation that will impose new sanctions on Russia. However, some Republicans don’t believe that it will be enough to prevent election meddling.
Paul is considered to be one of President Trump’s most loyal allies in the Senate on Russia.
As part of his efforts to make Trump happy, Paul blocked a resolution that was supporting the intelligence community’s findings that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election and required the President to have an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“We should stand firm and say, ‘Stay the hell out of our elections,’ but we should not stick our head in the ground and say we’re not going to talk to them,” Paul said from the Senate floor.
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