A new move by the Trump administration is likely to upset Moscow and will be difficult for the media to spin as being friendly toward Putin as the Pentagon has reportedly sent more money to arm Ukraine.
“In a move likely to irk Moscow, the Pentagon has released $200M in new security assistance to Ukraine days after the Trump-Putin meeting, according to US & Ukrainian officials,” CNN reporter Ryan Browne tweeted. “The funds will go toward counter-artillery radars, vehicles, night vision, comms, & medical equipment.”
The Trump administration last December approved the sale of “lethal arms to Ukraine’s government as the country battles pro-Russian separatists in its eastern provinces,” The Hill reported at the time.
“When you actually look at the substance of what this administration has done, not the rhetoric but the substance, this administration has been much tougher on Russia than any in the post-Cold War era,” said Daniel Vajdich, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, according to NPR.
Trump has pushed sanctions against Russia which has greatly constrained their economy, kicked dozens of Russian diplomats out of the U.S., armed Ukraine, pushed for NATO member nations to increase defense spending, and killed hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria.
NPR added that Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security, said, “There’s a real disconnect between the president’s words and the underlying policy.”