Ron DeSantis brands Vladimir Putin a ‘loser war criminal’

Ron DeSantis has described Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” who should be “held accountable”.

Mr DeSantis was facing a backlash from fellow Republicans last week for characterising the conflict as a “territorial dispute”.

The Florida governor, who is thought to be planning a presidential campaign, said previous comments that he made mischaracterised his position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to Piers Morgan in an interview shared with other Rupert Murdoch-owned media, the 44-year-old said the Russian president is a “loser” who is “basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons”.

His comments marked a different tone to the one taken a week earlier.

In a statement to Tucker Carlson, the Fox New host, the governor had said: “While the US has many vital national interests, becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.”

Asked by Mr Morgan whether he stood by the comment, he said: “Well, I think it’s been mischaracterised. Obviously, Russia invaded – that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 – that was wrong.”

While the initial view put him in line with isolationist GOP politicians, including Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress, including Senator Lindsay Graham, immediately distanced themselves from the position.

Establishment Republicans have backed President Joe Biden’s position that defending Ukraine is crucial, not just to European security, but to US interests.

However, Mr DeSantis’s stance on Russia has been of significant interest to conservatives looking for an alternative to Mr Trump. A large swathe of Republican voters believe the US is providing too much support for Ukraine.

“What I’m referring to is where the fighting is going on now, which is that eastern border region Donbas, and then Crimea. There’s a lot of ethnic Russians there. So, that’s some difficult fighting and that’s what I was referring to,” Mr DeSantis went on.

“I just don’t think that’s a sufficient interest for us to escalate more involvement. I would not want to see American troops involved there. But the idea that I think somehow Russia was justified (in invading) – that’s nonsense.”

He said that he did not believe that the conflict would end with “Putin being victorious”, adding: “I do not think the Ukrainian government is going to be toppled by him, and I think that’s a good thing.”