Of course McCain wasn't an "opponent of Russia," but of its dictatorship. McCain saw Putin for the KGB thug he is and the Kremlin hated & feared him, itself an honor.
McCain stood proudly for what all of America used to stand for, the idea that everyone in the world deserved freedom and that it was worth fighting for both on principle and as a strategic benefit for US security.
The global rise of authoritarianism and the crisis of liberal democracy are the direct result of decades of false equivalence, of quietly appeasing the evils that John McCain understood all too well.
"I couldn’t be more proud of being sanctioned by Putin for standing up for freedom and human rights for the Russian people and against Putin’s deadly aggression in Ukraine. I will never stop my efforts to support democracy, free speech, and the rule of law in Russia."—John McCain
