Sanders, Soviets joked and dined on Cold War trip
by Colin Wilhelm
| May 18, 2019 05:08 PM
Bernie Sanders partied with Soviet officials during the Cold War, praising the Soviet Union’s culture and telling officials that he wished more people in Vermont spoke Russian.
That’s according to a new report from Politico, which viewed hours of previously unseen video from the 1988 trip Sanders and his wife Jane took to the USSR while he was mayor of Burlington, Vt.
During his visit, which occurred during an early thawing of Cold War tensions, Sanders feasted, danced, and drank with Soviet leaders as part of his initiative to make Yaroslavl, a mid-sized city northeast of Moscow on the Volga River, Burlington’s sister city.
Sanders brought gifts, including an American flag.
“If you’re wondering what’s wrong with capitalism, it’s made in Hong Kong," he joked to Soviet officials, according to the report. "Sorry about that.â€
At one point an official Sanders met joked on camera about the KGB’s practice of imprisoning political opponents or exiling them from their homes.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/sanders-soviets-joked-and-dined-on-cold-war-trip
