After receiving blowback for calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis changed his tune on the conflict, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” who “should be held accountable” for his actions.

“I think he is a war criminal,” DeSantis told Piers Morgan in an interview set to air Thursday, adding: “I do think that he should be held accountable.”


What You Need To Know

  • In an interview, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” who “should be held accountable” for his actions in Ukraine

  • The Florida Republican made waves last week when he said that providing aid to Ukraine was not a “vital” national interest for the United States and called Russia's invasion a "territorial dispute"

  • When asked if he regrets using the phrase “territorial dispute,” DeSantis said that he believes his comments were “mischaracterized"

  • DeSantis is widely expected to join the 2024 presidential race, which would pit him against former President Donald Trump, who endorsed his 2018 gubernatorial bid, for the Republican nomination

The Florida Republican made waves last week when he said that providing aid to Ukraine was not a “vital” national interest for the United States.

Responding to a questionnaire from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson to both declared and prospective 2024 Republican presidential candidates, DeSantis said that “while the U.S. has many vital national interests,” citing competition with China and border security, among other issues, “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.”

“The Biden administration’s virtual 'blank check' funding of this conflict for 'as long as it takes,' without any defined objectives or accountability, distracts from our country’s most pressing challenges,” he added.

His comments drew sharp rebukes from a number of Senate Republicans, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, as well as several prominent GOP figures, like former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a potential 2024 White House hopeful.

When asked by Morgan if he regrets using the phrase “territorial dispute,” DeSantis said that he believes his comments were “mischaracterized.”

“Obviously, Russia invaded [in 2022], that was wrong,” he said. “They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014, that was wrong.”

The Florida governor went on to say that he was referring to the contested Donbas region in Ukraine’s east and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

“There’s a lot of ethnic Russians there,” he said. "So, that’s some difficult fighting and that’s what I was referring to and so it wasn’t that I thought Russia had a right to that, and so if I should have made that more clear, I could have done it.”

“I think the larger point is, okay, Russia is not showing the ability to take over Ukraine, to topple the government or certainly to threaten NATO,” he continued. “That’s a good thing. 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 its invasion], that’s nonsense.”

"I think he’s got grand ambitions," DeSantis said of Putin, "I think he’s hostile to the United States, but I think the thing that we’ve seen is he doesn’t have the conventional capability to realize his ambitions.

“He’s basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons,” he added, before pivoting to a stance about the United States needing to better utilize domestic energy resources.

DeSantis’ comments about Putin appeared to win over at least one of his critics, with Sen. Graham saying his assessment of the Russian leader is “spot on.”

“What do you call a national leader who uses their army to kidnap children of a neighboring state? A War Criminal,” Graham wrote on Twitter. 

 

 

“Those who suggest that Putin is not a war criminal are parroting Russian propaganda and clearly are not understanding the conduct of the Russian invaders in Ukraine,” Graham added. "The evidence is overwhelming.”

DeSantis is widely expected to join the 2024 presidential race, which would pit him against former President Donald Trump, who endorsed his 2018 gubernatorial bid, for the Republican nomination.

A Monmouth University poll Tuesday showed DeSantis losing ground in a possible showdown with Trump. Forty-one percent of Republican voters said they support Trump for the nomination, compared to 27% for DeSantis. Last month, the two were tied atop the poll at 33%.

But a Quinnipiac University poll last week showed DeSantis just 1 percentage point behind Biden in a hypothetical general election, while Trump trailed Biden by 4 points.

Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain contributed to this report.