In a new interview, former President Barack Obama spoke about the dangers posed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose forces are of course currently engaged in war in Ukraine. Obama characterized Putin — who’s been in power throughout U.S. presidencies including the Obama administration — as carrying a “twisted, distorted sense of grievance and ethnic nationalism.” It shouldn’t be so difficult to unequivocally condemn Putin amid the evidence of his regime’s atrocities, and yet, ex-President Trump recently took the opportunity of antagonism between the U.S. and Russia over Putin’s violence to ask for the Russian leader to release purportedly damaging information on the Bidens. It’s appalling that a former — and potentially future — president would even tepidly ally themselves with a murderous authoritarian to score domestic political points. Obama, meanwhile, remarked as follows:
‘Putin has always been ruthless against his own people, as well as others. He has always been somebody who’s wrapped up in this twisted, distorted sense of grievance and ethnic nationalism. That part of Putin, I think, has always been there. What we’ve seen with the invasion of Ukraine is him being reckless in a way that you might not have anticipated eight, 10 years ago, but you know, the danger was always there.’
JUST NOW: Donetsk Region Military Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko says 20,000-22,000 dead in Mariupol based on info from diff source, figure is preliminary, not verified. He says Russian forces are taking Ukrainian bodies to separatist controlled areas to hide casualties.
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) April 12, 2022
Asked whether he wishes he’d responded differently when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, which was part of Ukraine, while he was in office, Obama replied as follows:
‘The situations in each of these circumstances are different. But I think that what we’re seeing consistently is a reminder of why it’s so important for us to not take our own democracy for granted, why it’s so important for us to stand for and align ourselves with those who believe in freedom and independence, and I think that the current administration is doing what it needs to be doing.’
Check out Obama’s remarks below:
The Biden administration’s support for Ukraine has been wide-ranging, including the provision of defense supplies for the country and the enactment of economic penalties targeting Putin and his cronies. Biden recently signed two bills providing additional support for Ukraine; as described by the White House, one “statutorily prohibits the importation of energy products from the Russian Federation,” while the other “suspends normal trade relations with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus and seeks to further leverage trade and human rights sanctions.” And hundreds upon hundreds of targets inside Russia have been hit with U.S. sanctions, while the U.S. is also working on assisting European allies with lessening their reliance on Russian energy resources. All of these efforts stand in contrast to the antics from figures like Fox host Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the latter of whom just recently thought it was a great time to complain about the “demonization” of Vladimir Putin — after evidence of war crimes committed by Russian troops circulated.
⚡️ Ombudsman: Russian occupiers detain business owners in Melitopol, extort money from them.
According to Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova, Russian put pressure on local business owners in the occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and try to impose “taxes and fees” on them.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 12, 2022
