Senator JD Vance (Republican, Ohio) would not concede that Vladimir Putin is an “enemy” of the United States during an interview broadcast on Sunday, claiming that the country needs to be strategic about the way it speaks about the Russian president.
The Republican vice presidential nominee told NBC’s Meet The Press Putin is “clearly an adversary” and a “competitor,” but suggested it would be wrong to antagonise him by using stronger language against him that could hinder diplomacy efforts when it comes to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“Well, we’re not in a war with him, and I don’t want to be in a war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I think that we should try to pursue avenues of peace,” he said.
Vance noted the US “obviously” has “adversarial interests” with Russia.
“We can condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and I have, and of course the president has. But we also need to engage in some smart diplomacy if we’re ever going to get out of the mess that [Vice President] Kamala Harris has left us in and get back to a posture of peace,” he continued.
Former President Donald Trump has blamed both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Joe Biden for the war breaking out. He has also said negotiating a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would be one of his first orders of business as president-elect if he secures reelection.
Trump has also criticised the Biden administration’s efforts to continue sending assistance to Kyiv, while reportedly maintaining a cozy relationship with Putin, fuelling concern among Democratic lawmakers and US allies about the future of US aid to Ukraine in the event that he wins in November. The two men allegedly spoke on the phone several times since he left office, and Trump reportedly sent Putin Covid tests for his “personal use” in 2020, according to journalist Bob Woodward’s new book War.
While Trump’s campaign has denied the allegations contained in the book, the former president refused to answer whether he has spoken to Putin since January 2021.
“I don’t comment on that,” Trump told Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief John Micklethwait earlier this month. “But I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing. If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing and not a bad thing in terms of a country.”
Meanwhile, in the NBC interview, Vance insisted that the US would remain in the NATO military alliance under a Trump presidency.
But he also went on to say Americans “can’t be the policemen of the world,” claiming some NATO members, including Germany, need to spend more on defense, echoing Trump’s words.
“I think a very significant difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is Kamala Harris would like to use our tax dollars and our troops to subsidise Europeans not taking care of their own security,” Vance said. “Donald Trump wants Europe to step up big time to become a real ally of the United States and not just a dependent.”
This year, Germany met NATO’s target for members to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence spending for the first time since the end of the Cold War in response to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, according to Reuters.