Florida Governor Ron DeSantis questions the importance of the Ukraine conflict to the United States and criticizes the extent of economic and military support provided to Kyiv, which risks complicating the task of the administration of the president Joe Biden.
The politician’s criticisms, expressed in a questionnaire submitted by Fox News, are likely to encourage the isolationist camp within the Republican Party, which may seek to block the process when the government must return to Congress to secure new funds for the war against Russia.
Mr. DeSantis, who positions himself as the main opponent of Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 election, declared in particular that it was not in the interest of the United States “to involve even more of a territorial dispute” between Moscow and Kyiv.
“The Biden administration’s policy of handing out a ‘blank cheque’ to fund the conflict ‘as long as it takes’ without defined goals or accountability mechanisms distracts us from the country’s most important issues,” a- he noted, citing in particular border management, energy security and tensions with China.
Mr. DeSantis also specified that it was necessary to avoid any measure likely to allow Ukraine to strike far beyond its borders and to exclude as such the sending of fighter planes or long-range missiles.
“Such decisions would risk dragging the United States directly into the conflict and bring us closer to a high-intensity war between two nuclear powers,” he warned.
Similarities with Trump
Scott Anderson, governance expert attached to the Brookings Institution, notes that the position of Ron DeSantis echoes without copying that of Donald Trump, who calls for a rapid negotiated settlement of the conflict.
The fact that Ron DeSantis is speaking out so strongly, so soon before the primaries for the Republican nomination, risks shifting the party’s center of gravity into the camp of those who criticize aid to Ukraine.
Scott Anderson, governance expert at the Brookings Institution
Many influential figures in the Republican establishment, particularly in the Senate, are in favor of supporting Ukraine and even want the United States to go further, faster.
A hard core of deputies in the House of Representatives, today with a Republican majority, is however isolationist and could win the support of other elected officials because of the positions taken by the two heavyweights of the Republican race.
The task of the administration to pass new budget envelopes for Ukraine is likely to become more difficult, warns Mr. Anderson.
“The risk that American aid will eventually be cut or reduced increases,” warns the researcher, who expects the government to be able to maneuver more than a year from the envelope already approved.
A recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies points out that the funds already approved by Congress for Ukraine could instead be exhausted as soon as June or July.
Radical Republicans to watch
Eugene Rumer, a Russia specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, notes that Republican concerns about US indebtedness could further complicate any request for additional funding for Kyiv.
So far so good. There is money in the pipeline. […] But DeSantis’ exit is a clear signal that things will get tougher for Ukraine.
Eugene Rumer, Russia scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Pressure to review the US approach could intensify if the Ukrainian offensive planned for the next few months does not yield results and the conflict seems to be bogged down for a long time, he warns.
Dominique Arel, a Ukraine specialist attached to the University of Ottawa, thinks Ron DeSantis is trying to position himself to win back some of Donald Trump’s electorate in the upcoming primary and could adopt a point longer term. view more favorable to Kyiv.
It would be surprising, however, if the influential elected Republicans supporting Ukraine in the Senate and in the important committees of the House of Representatives accepted that aid to Ukraine should be cut.
PHOTO EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives
Mr. Arel thinks that the real threat to Kyiv comes rather from radical Republicans elected to the House of Representatives who had succeeded at the start of the year in blocking the appointment of the president of the institution, Kevin McCarthy, for several days.
“They could seek to use their influence on McCarthy to block the holding of a vote”, notes the researcher, who also expects that the budget envelope already approved to support Ukraine will be exhausted by the summer.