Sen. Josh Hawley is advocating to end President Joe Biden and the United States’s support for Ukraine joining NATO.
The Missouri Republican released a letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday arguing that the U.S. does not benefit from going to war against Russia for Ukraine if Russia does cross the country’s borders and attempt to invade.
“The United States has an interest in maintaining Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Hawley wrote in a letter acquired by Axios. “And we should urgently deliver to Ukraine assistance it needs to defend itself against Russia’s military buildup and other threats. Our interest is not so strong, however, as to justify committing the United States to go to war with Russia over Ukraine’s fate.”
Hawley argued that the U.S.’s support for NATO expansion is based on statements made in 2008, in a significantly different world than the foreign politics of 2022. Specifically, Hawley argued that the world has grown more dangerous as “an increasingly powerful China seeks hegemony in the Indo-Pacific,” and he advocated for the U.S. to divest more resources into dealing with China over Europe.
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Hawley also noted that only 19 of the 30 countries in NATO are investing the agreed-upon 2% of GDP into defense spending and implored other European nations to increase spending on defense.
Hawley also condemned Biden’s decision to send conventional troops to Europe to support Ukraine, claiming that such a deployment would “detract from the U.S. military’s ability to ready and modernize forces to deter China in the Indo-Pacific.”
Hawley’s letter comes out days ahead of a pair of all-member Ukraine briefings in the House and Senate and as diplomatic negotiations have made little progress.
Congress is preparing legislation to address events in Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia if Russian President Vladimir Putin does invade Ukraine. The bill was penned solely by Democrats and is expected to struggle to get support from the progressive wing of the Democrats and some Republicans.
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Republicans filed legislation in December that would provide immediate arms support to Ukraine.
