In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “7:30,” McCain said Putin is the “premier and most important threat, more so than ISIS.”

“I think ISIS can do terrible things,” McCain said. “But it’s the Russians who tried to destroy the fundamental of democracy and that is to change the outcome of an American election.”

McCain said while he has seen “no evidence” that Moscow successfully influenced the American presidential election, he noted that the Russians “tried, and are still trying.”

“They’re still trying to change elections,. They just tried to affect the outcome of the French election,” he added.