GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy dismissed the idea of Ukraine being a “paragon of democracy” while slamming its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “comedian in cargo pants.”
“More facts for you that you won’t hear from the mainstream in either party or the mainstream media—the regions of Ukraine that are occupied by Russia right now in the Donbas, Luhansk, Donetsk, these are Russian-speaking regions that have not even been part of Ukraine since 2014,” he said.
Mr. Ramaswamy urged people to avoid buying into narratives that frame the Russia–Ukraine conflict “as some kind of battle between good versus evil.” The GOP presidential candidate said he was “absolutely unpersuaded” by President Zelenskyy’s new plea for more funding.
Undemocratic Neighbors
Over the past couple of years, Ukraine has taken several steps that validate Mr. Ramaswamy’s claim of the country not being a democracy.
In March last year, Ukraine suspended 11 political parties over their alleged ties with Russia. Even though most of the parties had little political presence, one of the suspended parties—the Opposition Platform for Life—had secured second place in the elections.
At the time of suspension, the Opposition Platform for Life held 44 out of the 450 seats in the Ukrainian parliament.
In late December, President Zelenskyy signed into law legislation that empowered the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council to have broad authority over the country’s media and journalists.
President Zelenskyy has dismissed calls for elections. In a Nov. 6 speech, he said that “now, in wartime, when there are so many challenges, it is absolutely irresponsible to throw the topic of elections into society in a lighthearted and playful way … I believe that now is not the right time for elections.”
Russia is also a strongly anti-democratic country. While on paper, the voters in Russia have the right to choose their party in the elections, the reality on the ground is much different. Voters can only choose a party that is already vetted by the Kremlin and perceived as not being a threat to the establishment.
“After Russian authorities launched a brutal military invasion of Ukraine, the government moved to block prominent social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and issued massive fines to other platforms that refused to remove content and localize user data. Beyond social media platforms, the government restricted access to over 5,000 websites after the invasion was launched,” it said.
“The government expanded its foreign agents law and mandated that media outlets refer to the war as a ‘special military operation,’ developments that prompted many prominent independent news outlets to close rather than risk penalties for continued reporting.”
Ramaswamy Versus Haley
Mr. Ramaswamy also highlighted the issue of Ukraine suppressing Christians. “That is actually what’s happening. They’re using the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. They have banned them. The Ukrainian Parliament just did this last week, supported by our dollars.”He asked Nikki Haley to “have some accountability” and answer whether she wants to “use U.S. taxpayer money to fund the banning of Christians.”
After the current conflict broke out, Kyiv accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church which justified the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Days after the invasion, UOC’s head, Patriarch Kirill, called Ukrainians defending the country “forces of evil.”
In March, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights said that it was concerned about Ukraine’s “state actions against the UOC.”
When Ms. Haley was asked during the GOP debate about the issue of more funding for Ukraine, she didn’t answer the issue straight away.
Instead, Ms. Haley replied: “I am telling you, Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that (Mr. Ramaswamy) could become President. They would love to think about it.”
Ms. Haley called Ukraine a “freedom-loving, pro-American country that is fighting for its survival and its democracy.” She highlighted the importance of supporting Ukraine in the context of Taiwan and Israel.
“There is a reason the Taiwanese want us to support the Ukrainians. It’s because they know that China is coming after them next. There is a reason Ukrainians want us to support Israelis—because they know that if Iran wins, Russia wins,” she said.
Mr. Ramaswamy’s stance on Ukraine at the GOP debate triggered responses online.
