Many people criticized Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul yesterday for allegedly making comments supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a Senate hearing. The comments came during an exchange between Paul and Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the crisis in Ukraine. Paul argued that NATO expansion had provoked Moscow, which led to the invasion, and that Russia has attacked only former Soviet republics. Paul’s critics claimed this echoed Putin’s propaganda. It didn’t, and they are wrong. Furthermore, such criticism reveals a startling lack of knowledge of facts.

I am somewhat familiar with those facts, having majored in Russian and Eastern European history before taking an internship at the State Department.