Vivek Ramaswamy Says Potential Russian Capture of Ukraine Not a ‘Top Foreign Policy Priority’ for US

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said a Russia-China alliance is a greater U.S. “foreign policy priority” than Russia taking over Ukraine, in an interview with ABC News (Lean Left bias) on Sunday.

The Details: Ramaswamy told ABC it is not “preferable for Russia to… invade a sovereign country,” but it's in American interests for the conflict to end “on peaceful terms.” Ramaswamy proposed ceding the currently occupied territories to Russia and permanently keeping Ukraine out of NATO in exchange for Russia’s withdrawal from its treaty with China.

For Context: In 2001, Russia and China signed a twenty-year strategic treaty which they extended in 2022. Ramaswamy believes Taiwan is more important to American interests than Ukraine because of “semiconductor security.” He also told ABC he would not revive Trump’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military.

Key Quote: “I do not trust Putin, but I do trust Putin to follow his own self-interests,” said Ramaswamy. He later added, "China's bet is that they're going to go for Taiwan, the U.S. won't want to be in simultaneous conflict with two nuclear superpowers at the same time. But if Russia's no longer at China's back and vice versa, we're in a stronger position."

How The Media Covered It: Fox News (Right bias) interviewed Ramaswamy Monday about his comments. National Review (Right bias) said Ramaswamy “Doesn’t understand foreign policy.” Washington Post (Lean Left bias) highlighted the uniqueness of Ramaswamy’s stance as a GOP contender and said his position “could matter."