GOP strategist skewers fellow Republicans for voting to lift sanctions on businesses linked to Russian oligarch

A GOP strategist spurned his fellow Republicans Wednesday after a Senate measure to keep sanctions on businesses linked to a controversial Russian oligarch failed.

"Why not just hand a red lantern outside, boys?" strategist Rick Wilson tweeted, quoting a post announcing that the measure to block the lifting of sanctions on businesses linked to oligarch Oleg Deripaska did not pass the Senate.

On Tuesday, 11 Republicans defected to vote for a measure proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that would have blocked the Treasury Department from lifting the sanctions on Deripaska, a figure linked to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

The Times' Kenneth Vogel noted on Twitter that four GOP senators -- Richard Burr (R-NC), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rob Portman (R-OH) -- "have been notable Russia skeptics or hawks" but still voted against the block.