Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is vowing to allow Russia to keep every inch of Ukrainian territory it has occupied if Vladimir Putin promises to cut ties with China.
The outspoken Republican candidate told Fox News that he would also cave to Russian demands to keep Ukraine out of NATO in exchange for the hypothetical pledge to break off economic and military alliances with Beijing.
“I would freeze the current lines of control,” Ramaswamy said Wednesday night. “I would further make a hard commitment that NATO will not admit Ukraine to NATO. That’s enough to get Putin to do the deal.”
If he were elected president, Ramaswamy said he would get Russia to abandon its burgeoning alliance with China, which he calls a more serious threat to the U.S. than the invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia has to exit its military alliance with China. Right now, we’re pushing Russia further into China’s hands,” Ramaswamy said. “The Russia-China military alliance is the single greatest threat that the United States faces today.”
Ramaswamy did not explain how he or anyone else might enforce Russian compliance with his proposed deal.
The biotech entrepreneur burst onto the national scene with an attention-grabbing performance at last week’s first Republican presidential debate.
But he’s also attracting plenty of attacks from rivals and pundits for his unorthodox policy stands.
Critics call him naive or worse to even propose abandoning Ukraine in exchange for potential promises from Putin.
“That would be a surrender to Russian aggression,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee.
In the same Fox interview, Ramaswamy accused the U.S. of blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline that carried Russian natural gas to Western Europe.
In fact, the U.S. denies any involvement in the pipeline sabotage and no culprit has been identified. Some intelligence reports blame Ukraine.
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