A Kremlin-funded television station this week broadcast images of Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) rubbing shoulders with Vyacheslav Nikonov, the grandson of Joseph Stalin’s foreign minister.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Russian media analyst Julia Davis first noted that Shelby appeared on VTGRK, a news station funded by the Russian government.

“GOP lawmakers requested that their meetings with members of the Russian government proceed in a closed format (no press allowed),” Davis wrote. “Here is @SenShelby chitchatting with [Vyacheslav Molotov’s] grandson, Vyacheslav Nikonov.”

“Happy #IndependenceDay,” she added, later calling Shelby’s visit “surreal.”

GOP lawmakers requested that their meetings with members of the Russian government proceed in a closed format (no press allowed).
Here is @SenShelby chitchatting with Molotov’s grandson, Vyacheslav Nikonov.
Happy #IndependenceDay. pic.twitter.com/s8RNm3GqH1

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— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 3, 2018

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It is surreal. No reason to normalize our relations with Putin’s Russia at this point in time, the Kremlin hasn’t done a thing to earn it.

# p #8_11 # ad skipped = true #

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) July 3, 2018

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Shelby can be seen in a video clip from VTGRK below.