Russia hopes US midterms will lead to less funding for Ukraine [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Ukraine and Russia are closely monitoring the U.S. midterms.
• Pro-Kremlin forces hope that the Republicans win control of Congress.
• Russia believes a GOP-controlled House could mean it would be harder for the Biden administration to get military aid packages for Ukraine approved.

Russia and Ukraine are both watching the U.S. Midterms after top Republicans said they may rethink Ukraine aid.

Reports say some pro-Kremlin forces hope the Republicans win control of the House of Congress. Russians believe a GOP-controlled Congress could mean it will be harder for President Joe Biden to get military aid packages for Ukraine approved.

Few in Moscow expect the bipartisan U.S. political consensus on Ukraine to crack, whatever the result of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Nor do they expect Washington’s support for Kyiv to significantly dip.

Instead, with an eye on the next U.S. presidential election in 2024, pro-Kremlin Russians hope the results will be disputed and the American political system will face fresh turmoil.

Their stance reflects President Vladimir Putin’s belief that Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine is part of a historical realignment away from a U.S.-dominated world to a multipolar one where the views of countries such as Russia and China must be reckoned with.

Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov wrote on Telegram that Republicans taking control of Congress will “not end Washington’s support for Ukraine. However, the Biden administration will find it more difficult to push financial aid program to Kyiv through Congress and the position of US critics of unlimited aid to Ukraine will markedly strengthen.”

Pushkov added that Republicans might target Biden’s “wasteful” Ukraine spending.

Russian ultra-nationalist circles were more certain the midterms would be positive for their long-term interests.

Tsargrad, an online news portal and TV station funded by sanctioned Russian ultra-nationalist tycoon Konstantin Malofeev, predicted the elections would ultimately be America’s undoing.

“At a critical juncture in world history, this election could have a major impact on the geopolitical environment and Ukraine in particular,” it wrote.

“But it could also be the detonator of domestic centrifugal processes that could end the United States as we know it today,” it said, talking of the theoretical possibility of civil war due to political polarisation and distrust of election outcomes.

Tsargrad said Washington would not have the capacity to keep prosecuting its Ukraine policy if such a dramatic scene unfolded.

In a column for the state-run RIA news agency, columnist Pyotr Akopov forecasted Russia would be the real winner of the US midterms because the vote would deepen political divisions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which he predicted would be disputed.

“Even if it survives as a single state, the United States will change dramatically and its global position will weaken under any circumstances,” Akopov wrote.

“Confrontation with China will require the mobilization of all of the country’s global resources – and attention to Europe will inevitably weaken,” he said.

“Without a strong and united (United) States, the West will not be able to maintain control over western Russian lands for long.”

Source: Reuters