ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith said Monday that Democratic presidents bear more responsibility for the circumstances leading to the Russia-Ukraine war than President Donald Trump, as reported by The Daily Caller.
Speaking on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith pointed to key events under the leadership of former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton as shaping factors in the conflict.
Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022 during Biden’s administration.
In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea while Obama was in office. Smith also cited the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, signed during Clinton’s presidency, which required Ukraine to surrender its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia.
“We ain’t gon’ act like [Trump] caused this now. It’s Democrats in office. It was Biden in office when a full-fledged war against Ukraine took place — courtesy of Russia’s instigation — no matter what they try to say to Trump.”
“It was Russia that invaded Crimea — and that was under the Obama administration! It was Clinton in office when you made a deal that disarmed the Ukraine — and therefore weakened them — leaving them dependent on the United States!”
Smith added that the United States has an obligation under that agreement. “And now here they are having to beg for support that they’re owed because of what we promised them as a nation! We promised them this! You owe it to the Ukraine, Ukrainians,” he said.
“You absolutely do. I’m not saying I like it. I’m not saying I like spending billions of our taxpayer dollars to them. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is promises made are supposed to be promises kept. You promised them, America!”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a joint press conference with President Trump in Alaska on Friday, also addressed the origins of the conflict. Putin claimed the war could have been avoided had Trump remained in office.
“I would like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities,” Putin said.
“I said it quite directly back then, that it’s a big mistake.”
“Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the President back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so,” Putin added. “I can confirm that.”
In the weeks before Russia’s invasion, Biden imposed sanctions on two Russian banks and barred new U.S. investment, trade, or financing in the separatist-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Biden also announced that sanctions would be reimposed on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if Russia continued its escalation.
