The pair, who are facing off against each other for the Senate race, took part in the first debate at Utah Valley University.

During the discussion in front of a live audience, both candidates were asked about how they would approach foreign policies in the Senate, with McMullin highlighting how Lee has “repeatedly” voted against supporting Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, as well as other apparent signs of support for the Kremlin down the years.

“We need to elect leaders and representatives of this freedom loving state that will stand up to foreign dictators and not enable them,” McMullin said.

“Senator Lee, remarkably, you are the only member of Utah’s congressional delegation not to be blacklisted by Vladimir Putin. Just an incredible distinction,” McMullin said.

Lee was indeed the only one of several Utah congressmen and senators who Moscow did not include in a list of hundreds of American politicians, federal officials, journalists, activists and public figures who were banned from entering Russia. The blacklist was announced in May in response to Russia facing sanctions from the U.S. following its invasion of Ukraine.

McMullin suggested Lee was not blacklisted by Moscow as in 2017, he, alongside Kentucky’s Rand Paul, were the only two senators who voted against imposing financial sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2016 election.

In 2019, Lee was also granted a visa to visit Russia which McMullin claimed was to “discuss lifting sanctions.”

McMullin shared a clip of him discussing Lee not being blacklisted on Twitter, saying Russia decided not to ban him from the country as he is “Putin’s most reliable yes man in the U.S. Senate.”

In response, Lee said during Monday night’s debate he voted against the 2017 Russia sanction bill because it was “cobbled together in a piece of legislation with some progressive ideology.”

“Perhaps you’re OK with that. I was not. I voted against it,” Lee said.

The Republican said that he visited Russia in 2019 at the invitation of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who at the time was the U.S. ambassador to Russia.

“I did so because I needed to stand up for religious freedom. We had had missionaries and other Americans imprisoned for their religious beliefs in Russia, and I found this unacceptable and that’s why I went there,” Lee said.

“As to why they haven’t blacklisted me, I don’t know. I’d love to be blacklisted there. I’ve been banned for life from China. I hope Russia will ban me next. But for you to suggest, as you have repeatedly, that I’m some sort of fan of Vladimir Putin is absolutely false and disgraceful.”

Lee’s response to the line of attack brought some applause from the audience.

In a 2019 opinion piece for Deseret News, Lee said he visited Russia in 2019 in order to attempt “open and honest dialogue” with Moscow while criticizing Putin’s regime.

“If our relationship with Russia is ever going to improve, its aggressive behavior must stop,” Lee wrote. “That is the message I delivered to every Russian official I met with on my trip to Moscow

“The message was not always warmly received, of course. But Russian officials did seem to appreciate that a U.S. lawmaker had made the trip to Moscow to deliver it in person.”

Lee said that Putin is “not helping” improve relations with the U.S., noting Moscow’s “unprecedented” election interference in 2016, and Russia’s persecution of religious minorities and the LGBT community.

Lee has been contacted for further comment.