Trump could sell lethal weapons to Ukraine, Gingrich says

If Donald Trump is elected U.S. president, he could support selling lethal weapons to Ukraine on the possible conditions of installment payments, former U.S. House Speaker and Trump supporter Newt Gingrich told the eurointegration.com.ua news site in an interview published on Sept. 19. “Trump may say nice things about Putin, but in the meantime he can be selling lethal weapons to Ukraine,” Gingrich said. He said Hillary Clinton would likely extend the policy of U.S. President Barack Obama of denying Ukraine lethal armaments, a policy that Gingrich said is a loss for the U.S. 

The Ukrainian government is interested in receiving donations of lethal armaments and military technology from Western governments, Ukrainian President Poroshenko told the Ukrainian community in New York on Sept. 19. Receiving arms is the highest priority behind extending and strengthening sanctions against Russia, he said.

“At the start of my presidential term, our partners from the U.S. said that they have 100% information that 50% of Ukraine’s Armed Forces are corrupt, and the other 50% are KGB agents,” Poroshenko  said, claiming that he has since rebuilt the Ukrainian army. The Russian government wouldn’t pursue military aggression in Ukraine if it had military cooperation with the world, including the U.S., he said.

Zenon Zawada: Gingrich makes clear that there are members of the neoconservative foreign policy school – who advocate spread Western influence and values throughout the world – who will be lobbying Trump to act on Ukraine’s behalf against Russia. Not only did Gingrich embrace neoconservativism earlier in his career, but so has John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has been mentioned by Trump as a possible foreign policy appointment.

This also implies that there will be tension within Trump’s foreign policy team, which includes advisers like Carter Page, an investment banker with energy-related business dealings in Moscow that involved Gazprom. What’s certain is that the anti-Trump hysteria in the Ukrainian media is misguided as Trump is open to policies that are intended to support of Ukraine.