Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says "'Be very careful' where you travel"

U.S. citizens should “be very careful” when traveling around the world due to the risk of arbitrary arrests by hostile governments, a Republican senator warned days after Russia detained a U.S. citizen.

“I think people do need to be very careful and weigh carefully when they travel to these countries that are not exactly our friends,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told the Washington Examiner.

The second-term senator offered that warning days after Russian officials arrested a Michigan native on charges of espionage. The former Marine’s detention punctuated a string of high-profile incidents of American and Canadian citizens held overseas, including a series of cases that provoked a State Department travel warning for China.

“I wouldn't necessarily travel to Turkey, or Egypt, or Saudi Arabia right now,” Johnson, who chairs the Foreign Relations subcommittee for Europe, told the Washington Examiner. “If I was just a private citizen, there are a host of places I would not go, and unfortunately Russia and China are two on that list right now.”

But what would he say if his own children wanted to visit Moscow, Beijing, or Istanbul? “Go to Hawaii."

Examiner