Neil D Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Sun Feb 27, 2:23 PM ET By Randall Mikkelsen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should seek to bar Russia from this year's major-nation summit to protest actions by Moscow including its deal Sunday to provide Iran (news - web sites) nuclear fuel, a leading Republican senator said. Lawmakers from both major parties joined in calling for Russia to be punished for the nuclear deal and what they said were anti-democratic actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), although the French, German and British ambassadors to the United States opposed barring Russia from the summit. "This latest step of the Russians vis-a-vis the Iranians calls for sterner measures to be taken between ourselves and Russia. It has got to, at some point, begin to harm our relations," Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona said on "Fox News Sunday." Russia and Iran signed their nuclear-fuel supply deal in defiance of long U.S. opposition and only days after Putin and President Bush (news - web sites) met at a summit in Slovakia. McCain accused Putin of carrying out "aberrational" policies and acting "like a spoiled child," not only in the Iran deal but in domestic policies that McCain said limited press freedom and tightened Kremlin control over Russian regions. "The United States and our European allies should start out by saying, 'Vladimir, you're not welcome at the next G8 conference,"' said McCain, an influential member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites). The next summit of the Group of Eight major nations, which includes Russia, is scheduled for Scotland in July. The Rest of the Story Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
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