“Ask yourself, where would our friends in Eastern Europe be today if they were not in NATO? Where would Russian tanks be today if NATO had not expanded the boundaries of freedom?” he said. “There is no place for Putin’s apologists in this party.”
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Although Pence did not directly name the former president, Trump was one of the loudest and only Republican voices supporting Putin. Trump recently described Putin as “smart,” “savvy,” and “a genius,” while insisting that an attack on Ukraine would never have happened in his presence.
“The problem is not that Putin is smart – and he certainly is,” Trump said last week, “but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. Stupid. So stupid.”
Pence’s comments come as fighting continues across Ukraine. After evacuation efforts in Mariupol were halted by what Ukrainian officials described as continued shelling from Russian troops, Putin on Saturday again denounced the wide-ranging sanctions imposed on Russia by the international community. He described the sanctions as a “declaration of war” and said that any further opposition to the invasion by Ukrainian and world leaders would jeopardize “the future of Ukrainian statehood.”
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On March 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin said tough international sanctions against Russia were like a “declaration of war.” (Joy Yee/The Washington Post)
More than 1.2 million people have fled the fighting in Ukraine, and at least 331 civilians have been killed, according to UN agencies. But the researchers warn that actual casualties are likely higher because it is difficult and often dangerous to count war dead.
Republican Party leaders have largely condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, although Republican leaders such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have described the Russian president as a “talented statesman” with “heaps of gifts.”
Senator Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.) came under fire this week from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after suggesting that the “only way” to end the crisis in Ukraine is for the Russians to kill Putin.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Graham’s comments reflect the “hysterical, extreme intensity of Russophobic outbursts” at a time of such global tension.
The White House also rejected Graham’s call for assassination.
“This is not the position of the United States government, and certainly not the kind of statement you will hear from anyone in this administration,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a daily briefing on Friday. Members of Congress also criticized Graham’s tweets as reckless, including Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (Georgia).
Volunteer fighter Volodymyr Nezhenets, 54, was mortally wounded in a shootout in Kyiv on February 27. His widow Oksana was determined to bury him properly. (Whitney Shefte, Lee Powell/The Washington Post)
The conservative shift towards Russia also showed up on Fox News, where host Tucker Carlson changed his tone on Putin after first downplaying the conflict and asking Americans why they hated the Russian president.
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Despite his indirect reference to Trump in his Friday speech, Pence stood by the former president and laid the blame on the Biden administration’s handling of the Ukraine crisis.
“It’s no coincidence that Russia waited until 2022 to invade Ukraine,” Pence said. “Weakness awakens evil, and the scale of the evil that has engulfed Ukraine says a lot about this president.”
He praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his courage and said that Putin “understands only strength.” Pence also urged Republicans to support humanitarian and refugee relief efforts.
Discussing the upcoming election, Pence said Republicans need to get over defeat in the 2020 election. Trump went on to falsely claim that Pence had the right to cancel the 2020 election during the congressional Electoral College vote count, which he did not. Such false claims helped spread the idea of ”Hang Mike Pence!” chant that erupted among Trump supporters during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
“My fellow Republicans, we can only win if we unite around an optimistic vision of the future based on our highest values,” he said. “We cannot win by fighting yesterday’s battles or judging the past again.”