As Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light for the attack on Ukraine, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) took a shot at the three most recent presidents for their handling of foreign policy.
In a statement on Wednesday, Romney said, “Putin’s Ukraine invasion is the first time in 80 years that a great power has moved to conquer a sovereign nation. It is without justification, without provocation, and without honor.”
He continued, “Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naive efforts at a one-sided ‘reset,’ and the shortsightedness of ‘America First.’ The ‘80s called’ and we didn’t answer.”
Read the statement below:
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 24, 2022
While Romney did not mention former President Barack Obama or former President Donald Trump by name, his statement mentioned different policies from the two leaders.
Early in his presidency, Obama called for a “reset” of relations between the U.S. and Russia. And Trump championed an “America first” policy aimed at putting U.S. interests first.
Romney also mentioned a moment from his 2012 debate when Obama criticized him for claiming at the time that Russia was the United States’ “No. 1 geopolitical foe.”
“A few months ago, when you were asked what is the biggest geopolitical group facing America, you said Russia, not al-Qaida. You said Russia. And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back. Because the Cold War has been over for 20 years. But governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policy of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s,” Obama said during the debate.
Romney also seemed to criticize President Joe Biden as he said, “The peril of again looking away from Putin’s tyranny falls not just on the people of the nations he has violated, it falls on America as well. History shows that a tyrant’s appetite for conquest is never satiated.”
Finally, the Utah senator added, “America and our allies must answer the call to protect freedom by subjecting Putin and Russia to the harshest economic penalties, by expelling them from global institutions, and by committing ourselves to the expansion and modernization of our national defense.”
Romney’s statement comes after Putin announced that Russia would conduct a military operation in eastern Ukraine with the goal of demilitarizing the country. However, Russian strikes have been conducted in western portions of the country.
