Katie Britt Takes ‘Tough’ Stance on Russia after Previously Letting Putin Shut Her Down

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Britt Campaign
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton

Katie Britt, candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, went to Russia to confront Vladimir Putin about the Russia Collusion Hoax, but she softened her tone after Putin ignored her and is again now claiming to be a tough on Russia candidate.

As of late, Britt’s campaign has taken an alleged tough on Russia stance. Britt has called for sanctions and made multiple tweets and interviews condemning Russian leader Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine. However, she tried to normalize relations after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Britt coordinated the first Congressional delegation visit to Russia after Putin annexed Crimea under former President Barack Obama’s watch.

“Over the last several days I think we have all seen and can agree that Putin is an authoritarian. He is a thug. He is a threat to America and freedom across the globe,” Britt said in a video uploaded to Twitter. “We must all come together to beat this threat. We must open up our energy sector. We must hit him with sanctions. We must make sure that they are kicked out of SWIFT.”

“President Biden needs to immediately implement the full range of bone-crushing sanctions against Putin’s aggression. This includes barring Russia from SWIFT,” she tweeted.

While Britt portrays herself as a candidate that would be tough on Russia, she missed her chance to do precisely that during a Congressional trip to Russia led by her former boss, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), in 2018.

Britt coordinated and attended the congressional delegation’s trip to Russia while serving as Shelby’s chief of staff. The visit included seven Republican senators and one House member.

As Shelby’s chief of staff, Britt presumably helped create the talking points for the trip.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who attended the congressional delegation to Russia, explained that the Russia collusion hoax was “the very first issue” the Republican lawmakers brought up in their meetings with Russian officials. 

“I think it sent a strong message to the Russians that this is an issue that both sides of the aisle are very concerned about,” Daines said on a July 2018 press call. “It was the very first issue we brought up in virtually every meeting we had, was ‘Do not interfere in U.S. elections.’ It’s very clear from our intelligence reports that they did attempt to interfere in the U.S. elections in 2016.”

“We put them on notice: ‘You better not do that in 2018,’” Daines added. “I think it sent a strong message that it was a group of Republicans that were confronting the Russian government on election interference.”

Along with promoting the Russia collusion hoax, the members also sought to get Putin to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and help the United States bring peace to Syria.

Britt and those eight GOP lawmakers spent Independence Day 2018 in Moscow promoting the Russia collusion hoax and hoping to show strength in a meeting with Putin. (A Daines spokesperson said the senator was back in the U.S. for July 4.)

However, the visit to Russia did not go as Shelby and the other lawmakers planned. As reports about the trip detailed, the lawmaker’s purported tough on Russia stance changed once the members arrived in the country.

“Members of the delegation set off promising to be tough with Russian officials, especially on matters of election interference. But they struck a conciliatory tone once there,” the Washington Post reported.

Even with the lawmakers’ “conciliatory tone,” Putin declined to meet with the congressional delegation. 

The trip Britt organized was such an embarrassment that Russian officials publicly criticized the members’ weakness. Russian lawmaker Vyacheslav Nikonov said that the meeting “was one of the easiest ones” in his life.

Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko told a state-run Russian television show, “We need to look down at them and say: You came because you needed to, not because we did.”

Britt is trying to convince Alabama voters that she would advocate for using “all of these tools at our disposal” to stand up to Putin, even though the delegation she organized promoted Democrat propaganda and failed to stand up to Putin while in his home country. 

Britt is running in Alabama’s Republican primary against Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who has earned the support of former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Brooks paints Britt as the establishment candidate aligned with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mo Brooks and other conservative leaders and the establishment team of Mitch McConnell, Richard Shelby and Katie Britt that did so much to undermine Donald Trump’s term as president of the U.S.,” Brooks said.

It was recently revealed that Sen. Shelby’s super PAC is spending $5 million of his campaign funds to support Britt’s efforts to succeed him.

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