Russia denies visa to another US lawmaker ahead of congressional trip

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Another U.S. lawmaker is claiming he was denied a visa to enter Russia for an upcoming bipartisan delegation trip.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Tuesday that the Russian government denied him a visa — a day after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., announced that Russia had denied him a visa request.

“While I’ve been a tough critic of the Kremlin, I also believe it’s important to maintain dialogue especially during moments of tension,” Murphy said in a statement. “As the owners of the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals with the capacity to destroy each other many times over, we have a responsibility to keep the world safe and prevent conflict between the U.S. and Russia."

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Murphy added: “Unfortunately, the Russian government is further isolating their country by blocking our visit and several others in recent months. With the collapse of recent arms control agreements and significant domestic opposition to Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule, this is potentially a perilous moment for our two nations’ fragile relationship, and it’s a shame that Russia isn’t interested in dialogue.”

Neither Murphy nor Johnson, who chairs the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, said when the planned bipartisan trip to Russia was scheduled to take place, or whether other lawmakers had been granted visas.

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The two senators, who both sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are known as fierce critics of Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression in its sphere of influence — especially in regard to Moscow’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its attempts at interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“The path Vladimir Putin has chosen for Russia is a tragedy of historic proportions,” Johnson said in a statement on Monday.

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He added: “Instead of holding free and fair elections, respecting the rule of law, and integrating Russia’s economy with Western democracies, Putin has invaded Georgia, attempted to illegally annex Crimea, conducted war in eastern Ukraine where thousands have died, and supported a barbaric regime in Syria that has used chemical weapons on its own people in a war that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.”

The visa denials come on the heels of last weekend’s G-7 summit in France, where Russia was one of the major topics of discussion among the world leaders.

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President Trump, as he had before last year's summit, said he would like to see Russia re-admitted to the club. The former G-8 kicked Russia out after Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

While his affinity for Russia has been questioned at home, Trump said Monday he'd prefer Russia be "inside the tent" rather than outside since so many of the issues the leaders discussed involved Russia.

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Other members of the Group of Seven besides France and the U.S. are Canada, Italy, Britain, Germany and Japan.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters he had privately aired his objection to Russia's readmittance.

"Russia has yet to change the behavior that led to its expulsion in 2014, and therefore should not be allowed back into the G-7," he said at a news conference.

Fox News’ Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.