Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and a potential Republican presidential candidate, after facing backlash for calling the conflict in Ukraine a ‘territorial dispute’ between Russia and Ukraine, has reversed his stance.
In an interview set to air on Thursday on Fox Nation, he said that his statement was misconstrued.
DeSantis’ stance differs from establishment Republicans like veteran GOP Mitch McConnell, Mike McCaul and Mike Turner and few others, who unlike the right-wing within the Democrats, support US backing Ukraine.
“Obviously, Russia invaded – that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 – that was wrong,” DeSantis said. He also said that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, was a “war criminal”.
He also commented on the international criminal court has issuing a warrant for Putin’s arrest. “I don’t know about that route, but I do think that he should be held accountable,” DeSantis said.
The governor of Florida has not officially announced his candidacy for the presidency, but he is currently the leading contender in the polls and many people anticipate that he will join the race sometime this spring.
Recently, during an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, he made the “territorial dispute” statement which received strong condemnation across the political spectrum.
Reed Galen, a Republican strategist turned anti-Trump campaigner, told the Guardian that donors disliked DeSantis’ statement and his team found that
DeSantis’ statements were unpopular with general election Republicans.
Even though he appeared to align with Trump with his statements, Galen pointed out that the Florida governor was still a “conventional politician”.
DeSantis tried to clarify his stance by acknowledging that the situation is complex, due to the large population of ethnic Russians in eastern belt of Ukraine.
He clarified that despite the presence of ethnic Russia he does not believe that Russia has a legitimate claim to those territories.
He also said that he may not have made this distinction clear enough, but his overall point is that despite Russia’s actions, they have not been successful in taking over Ukraine or posing a significant threat to NATO and it was a “good thing”.
“I just don’t think that’s a sufficient interest for us to escalate more involvement. I would not want to see American troops involved there. But the idea that I think somehow Russia was justified [in invading] – that’s nonsense,” DeSantis was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
“If I could snap my fingers, I’d give it back to Ukraine 100%,” DeSantis further added, while outlining that sending American troops there would be a mistake.
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