Russians say 'nyet' to McCain fundraising appeal

UNITED NATIONS – The Russians have turned down Sen. John McCain's request for campaign money — and had a bit of a laugh at his expense.

Russia's ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkin, and several other diplomats at the mission received a fundraising appeal from the Republican presidential nominee on Thursday, according to Ruslan Bakhtin, a spokesman for Russia's U.N. mission.

But the letters, which were dated Sept. 29, did not use formal titles. That led Churkin and his colleagues to conclude that the requests stemmed from "a computer failure" by McCain's campaign, Bakhtin said.

"It's evident that it was a mistake. It happens," said Bakhtin, who along with another Russian official at the mission acknowledged they were entertained by the mixup. "Normally, they don't circulate these kinds of letters to diplomatic posts."

Bakhtin emphasized, too, that the "Russian authorities are in no way engaged in funding political campaigns or political activities abroad."

He said the mission had not sent any direct reply to the McCain campaign.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the campaign, said Monday that he was unable to pinpoint what had caused the blunder.

"It sounds like they might have been sent to the wrong place. We obviously don't solicit campaign contributions from people who aren't able to contribute," he said.

Presidential campaigns are legally barred from accepting foreign contributions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081020/ap_on_re_eu/un_russia_mccain_1;_ylt=AnxW.x1l4xS3PzQKFfcHDMNh24cA