Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for US president, said on Sunday that Washington should not send another dime to Ukraine and that a deal needs to be negotiated with Russia that weakens its alliance with China.
He also said the US should not be involved in “another eternal war”.
“Just because ‘Putin is bad’ doesn’t mean Ukraine is good,” Ramaswamy said in response to a post by Nikki Haley, another GOP presidential candidate. “Ukraine banned 11 opposition parties and merged all TV into one state broadcaster. It’s corrupt.”
Haley, who supports Washington’s support for Ukraine, said on Sunday that “those who would leave Ukraine today are in danger of leaving Israel tomorrow.” “They have lost sight of who our friends are, who our enemies are, who is good and who is bad.
Ramaswamy seemed unconvinced by the equivalence Haley outlined between Israel and Ukraine. He said most of the “occupied regions in Donbas” are Russian-speaking and have not voted in Ukrainian parliamentary elections for almost a decade. “We shouldn’t be sending another dime to Ukraine, and we need to negotiate a deal with Russia that weakens its alliance with China.”
The Indian-American also disagreed with Haley when she called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “finish” Hamas. Although Ramaswamy believed that Hamas should not exist, he said that shouting “finish them” was not a coherent solution to a complex problem.
Since Russia launched ground operations in Ukraine in February 2022, the US has provided Kyiv with billions of dollars in aid. In a fact sheet shared after a year of war, the White House said in February that the US had sent to Ukraine anti-armor and anti-aircraft systems such as 8,000 Javelins and 1,600 Stingers, 160 howitzers, 38 high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), and 109 combat vehicles and tanks Bradley Infantry.
The Biden administration also provided more than one million rounds of artillery ammunition, 100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition, and 100,000 small arms rounds, in addition to pledging $50 billion in security assistance with its European partners.
While incumbent US President Joe Biden is determined to support Kyiv in its fight against Moscow, Ramaswamy has vowed to cut aid to Ukraine if elected president. He said that the Ukraine-Russia war does not advance American interests and that the Russia-China alliance is the single biggest threat to the future existence of the US.
Through his speeches, Ramaswamy also explained what he would do to deal with the crisis and not let Russia fall into China’s lap. In an interview with Fox News, the American businessman-turned-politician said that if elected US president, he would offer to freeze the current lines of control between Ukraine and Russia, make a tough commitment not to admit Ukraine to NATO, and lift sanctions. In return, according to him, Russia would have to withdraw from the military alliance with China.
Image Source: ANI News
