MAGA-aligned U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) announced Thursday on social media that she has “received authorization from the State Department for four members from the Russian Duma to come meet with members of Congress regarding peace talks, etc., and have extended a formal invitation to those members to meet with us here in Washington, D.C., later this month.”
Luna thanked U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio for his help with the arrangement. Luna added, “Peace should always prevail, and level heads should be leading discussions.”
Note: The State Duma, which was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993, is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (the upper house is the Federation Council). The Chairman of the State Duma is Putin loyalist Vyacheslav Volodin, who has claimed, according to the Crimean Human Rights Group, that the death penalty is fair punishment for Ukrainian authorities, referring to them as a ‘neo-Nazi regime’ and ‘fascists’. (Luna has consistently opposed U.S. military and financial aid packages to Ukraine.)
I have received authorization from the State Department for four members from the Russian Duma to come meet with members of Congress regarding peace talks, etc., and have extended a formal invitation to those members to meet with us here in Washington, D.C., later this month.…
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) January 8, 2026
Pro-Ukrainian supporters are replying to Luna with objections to the meeting and comments including “So which State Duma deputies are coming exactly? The ones calling the US pirates and openly demanding strikes on American vessels, even nuclear ones, or different ones?”
Note: Last week, Russia’s foreign ministry compared the U.S. blockade of Venezuela oil tanks in the Caribbean to piracy. A spokeswoman said: “Today we are witnessing complete lawlessness in the Caribbean Sea, where long-forgotten theft of other people’s property, namely piracy, and banditry, are being revived.”
President Trump’s former National Security Advisor, Ret. U.S. Army Lt. Gov. Mike Flynn, who was pardoned by Trump after he pleaded guilty in 2017 to a felony count of “willfully and knowingly” making false statements to the FBI about his communications with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, praised Luna’s plans. (Note: Kislyak is currently a Senator in the Russian Federation.)
Flynn wrote: “Thank God someone in Congress is thinking geo-strategically and long term. Personal relationships matter especially during these dangerous times we face. Congratulations to you and to @SecRubio for helping set these meetings up.”
Thank God someone in Congress is thinking geo-strategically and long term. Personal relationships matter especially during these dangerous times we face. Congratulations to you and to @SecRubio for helping set these meetings up.
— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) January 8, 2026
