Trump staffers reveal opposition to defensive weapons for Ukraine

Campaign staffers for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump amended the language of the Republican Party’s national security committee platform to exclude the option of providing lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian military, according to a July 18 report by The Washington Post. A platform committee member proposed an amendment calling for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and providing lethal defensive weapons. Yet this last clause was amended by Trump staffers, who worked alongside Trump delegates to change it to call for “appropriate assistance” instead, the report said. 

Zenon Zawada: This event comes as no surprise as Trump has consistently been the most sympathetic candidate towards Russia. If Trump is elected, we can expect another attempt at reset in relations that failed under Obama and Clinton. The goal of this reset would be to cooperate in order to establish a new order in the Middle East, with the replacement of the Islamic State of Iraq, which Trump has stated as a foreign policy goal.

In the context of Ukraine, the bigger question is whether the introduction of lethal defensive weapons will serve to restrain Russian aggression or escalate it further. The evidence seems to point to these weapons having the potential to further escalate the conflict. One example is a recent statement by an advisor to Putin, Sergei Karaganov, who threatened to destroy rockets based in Poland and the Baltic states “in the event of a full-scale crisis.”

The Obama administration was effective in avoiding an escalation in Mariupol in April-May 2015 without the need to introduce arms, and we believe such behind-the-scenes diplomacy – and the consistent application of sanctions – to be the most effective approaches in restraining Russia. In light do this, it’s unfortunate to see Europe gradually losing patience with the sanctions. Keeping them in place is key to resolving this conflict.