Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing Donald Trump “like a violin“, said Republican Senator Tom Tillis, criticizing the change in Washington's policy towards the war in Ukraine and Moscow. According to him, the United States will regret it if it withdraws support for Kiev.
“Putin is lying. Putin is playing President Trump like a violin. And history will not look kindly on America if it fails to protect the Western world“, Tillis said in an interview with CNN.
The senator also rejected the Kremlin's explanation that Russia started the war to “denazify“ Ukraine. He called this claim a lie and said that the Trump administration's actions towards Moscow were a mistake for which Washington would pay a political price.
Among the decisions criticized was the negotiated agreement to import Russian diesel fuel into the United States. According to The Hill, the deal provides for the delivery of hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel, while other American media outlets put it at several million tons. Details of the final volume differed in individual publications.
Tillis also criticized Trump's decision to postpone sanctions against Russia adopted by Congress. The law was approved by the Senate by 86 votes to 11, but the president signed an executive order exempting Russia and its associated countries from the application of the sanctions. He cited national security considerations and the need to limit high fuel prices.
The senator described as “absurd“ the idea of a three-way meeting between Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the war in Ukraine and nuclear weapons. Volodymyr Zelensky is not included in the proposed formula.
“A meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, two countries that want to subjugate the world, is absurd“, Tillis said.
He questioned in an interview with CNN whether the Trump administration was not limiting American military and intelligence support for Ukraine, despite official denials. The concern is that Ukrainian access to Starshield — the military version of SpaceX's satellite system — has not been fully restored, and that Kiev has lost access to some American intelligence information.
Tillis and three other Republican senators — John Cornyn, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — asked the Pentagon inspector general to investigate whether senior officials ordered or had advance knowledge of the restrictions.
After speaking to a group of senators, Zelensky said that Ukrainian data transmission speeds through Starshield had not yet been fully restored. He also said that Ukraine was having difficulty obtaining interceptors for the Patriot systems, although some allied countries were ready to provide them with approval from US authorities.
President Trump said that the United States continues to share intelligence with Ukraine and that he does not know who ordered the restriction of satellite access. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also rejected claims of a change in policy.
At the same time, criticism of the White House came from both parties. Republican Senator John Cornyn said that the late Lindsey Graham would have been outraged by the sanctions decision. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of propping up the Russian economy, and Senator Elizabeth Warren said the president is allowing Putin to continue his war on Ukraine.
An immediate response from Congress remains unlikely, as the House and Senate are in recess until Election Day. Meanwhile, Ukraine is bracing for a winter of continued Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
Sources: thehill.com, apnews.com, axios.com