Putin is bigger threat than Daesh, warns US senator 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a bigger threat to the world security than Daesh, the US senator, John McCain, has warned.

Speaking in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News), on the back of his official tour of Australia, McCain said that Putin was “the premier and most important threat, more so than Isis [Daesh].”

He added that Daesh “can do terrible things,” stressing that “it’s the Russians who tried to destroy the fundamental of democracy and that is to change the outcome of an American election.”

The Republican senator pointed out that he’d “seen no evidence [the Russians] succeeded but they tried and they are still trying to change elections,” noting that “they just tried to affect the outcome of the French election. “

“So I view Vladimir Putin — who has dismembered Ukraine, a sovereign nation, who is putting pressure on the Baltics — I view the Russians as the far greatest challenge that we have,” McCain stressed.

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The chairman of the Senate committee on armed services called on the United States to respond to Russia with sanctions, complaining that it had “done nothing” since the November  election “to respond to Vladimir Putin’s attempt to change the outcome of our elections.”

“So, way to go Vladimir. We haven’t responded at all,” he added.

When asked about allies concerns over the international security measures taken by Trump, McCain admitted that he gets “nervous from time to time,” but praised the president’s national security team.

“I do believe that the President has great confidence in the national security team. I do believe most of the time that he accepts their advice and counsel,” he noted. “Can I tell you that he does [that] all the time? No. Does it bother me? Yes, it bothers me.”