The election of Donald Trump in November will cause uncertainty over future U.S. support for Kyiv in the war Russia started, a Kremlin propagandist has said.
Guests and presenters on Russian state television have long described how the Republican candidate would suit Moscow more should he take the White House, given his opposition to further military aid for Ukraine and his widely scrutinized ties with Vladimir Putin when he was last in the White House.
While there is no clear link between Moscow’s policy and pundits’ takes on Russian state television, Trump has been described by Russian TV as “our candidate” and it has even been suggested there was some co-operation between the GOP candidate and the Kremlin.
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However, the prospect of a Trump return to the White House prompted concern from one guest on Russia’s Channel 1 who said there are still questions over U.S. funding for Kyiv if Trump was re-elected, given his penchant for doing deals.
Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecast, told the show Vremya Pakazhet (Time will Tell) Trump would “definitely” be a threat to future support Ukraine given how “deeply tied” to Kyiv the Democrats are but that did not mean he would try to completely reverse U.S. policy on its support.
“Maybe Trump won’t change course 180 (degrees),” he said in a clip posted by Russia watcher Julia Davis. “The point is that Donald Trump, as we know, likes to make package deals.”
Without explaining how, Trump has repeatedly said that if re-elected, he could end the war started by Putin within a day.
Danyuk referred to the lengthy congressional delays in getting the latest U.S. aid package passed and how House Speaker Mike Johnson was initially reluctant but “then he met with Donald Trump” who “most likely met” with others such as those in the military industrial complex, “or his Democratic opponents.”
Danyuk provided no evidence to back up his claims about Johnson who eventually pushed the $95 billion foreign aid bill through the House in April.
“They were able to make a package deal,” Danyuk said. “Yes, Trump is unpredictable. He doesn’t depend on the adventures in Ukraine, he totally doesn’t care about it. But the fact that he might use the Ukrainian issue for his own benefit is an undeniable fact.”
Danyuk believed on the one hand, Ukrainians “are fearing” a Trump presidency but on the other hand, Ukrainian and Western press are reporting that Kyiv has “hired an enormous amount of lobbyists desperate to work with Republican congressmen who are vehemently opposed to supporting Ukraine.”
Danyuk believes that that lobbyists “want to promise Trump something that may help him” should he become president “so we have to carefully watch” the former president.
Again, there is no evidence that Danyuk’s account of behind-the-scenes maneuvering is true and Newsweek has contacted the Trump team for comment.