A Russian state television presenter said Sunday he had invited US Senator John McCain to appear on his chat show to discuss his views on Syria.
Vladimir Solovyov, known for his pro-Kremlin stance, said he had invited the Republican senator, who opposes Russia’s strategy on Syria, to appear on his live talk show, “Sunday Night.”
He also said that the channel guaranteed that McCain “would have the chance to talk directly live to Russians.”
The powerful senator, who was the Republicans’ nominee for president in 2008, backed US strikes against Syria and opposes the Russian and US deal on Damascus putting its chemical weapons under international control.
The invitation was unusual for Russian state television, which rarely gives airtime to foreigners except for Hollywood stars. It also barely shows Russian politicians with opposition views.
McCain has apparently agreed to write an op-ed for a Russian news website called Pravda.ru in response to Putin’s opinion piece on the Syrian conflict in The New York Times last week.
Dmitry Sudakov, English-language editor at Pravda.Ru told AFP on Sunday that McCain would write for the website.
The website of US magazine Foreign Policy last week wrote that it had contacted Pravda.ru to ask if it would run a piece by McCain.
Its journalist then passed the suggestion to McCain, whose spokesman said he agreed to submit an article.
It was unclear whether McCain realised Pravda.ru now has no connection with the Pravda newspaper, a little-read organ of the Russian Communist Party that was once the must-read newspaper for Soviet officials.
The Pravda.ru website was started by former Pravda journalists in the late 1990s.
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