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Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to deliver a speech Friday night that will call out Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as those who have suggested that NATO’s expansion played a role in his invasion of Ukraine.
“There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin,” Pence will say to a Republican National Committee retreat in New Orleans, according to an excerpt obtained by Fox News. “There is only room for champions of freedom.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech on the stage of the Varkert Bazar cultural centre in Budapest on Sept. 23, 2021, during the fourth demographic summit. (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images) (ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)
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“To those who argue that NATO expansion is somehow responsible for the invasion of Ukraine, ask yourself where would our friends in Eastern Europe be today if they were not in NATO,” Pence is expected to say. “Where would Russian tanks be today if NATO had not expanded the borders of freedom?”
Pence is expected to say that Republicans “must send a deafening message” that “Putin must stop or Putin must pay.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool)
The speech comes after some Republicans have objected to NATO’s expansion and seemingly downplayed the need for the United States to get involved in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
The former vice-president will call on Republicans to demand that the Biden administration increases military spending “immediately”, arms Ukraine with more lethal weapons, and sanction “all” financial institutions in Russia.
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Pence, who some believe has ambitions to run for president in 2024, will also take several shots at President Biden’s foreign policy record.
Several buildings in Starobilsk within the Luhansk Oblast region of Ukraine show significant damage because of shelling, according to images shared by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
“From day one President Biden has shown weakness on the world stage and the world is a more dangerous place as a result,” Pence will say. “It’s no coincidence that Russia waited until 2022 to invade Ukraine. Weakness arouses evil and the magnitude of evil sweeping across Ukraine speaks volumes about the president. I say this not as a partisan but as an American.
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Pence also calls Biden to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline and reopen oil and gas exploration in the United States in order to “put America back on the path of energy independence that we achieved under the Trump-Pence administration.