- Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned whether US aid to Ukraine would fall "into the hands of Nazis"
- It was just one of her claims that mirrored the Kremlin's disinformation and talking points.
- Greene's words come as other far-right figures express sympathy for some of Russia's views.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned on Tuesday whether the US' nearly $14 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine will fall "into the hands of Nazis" and blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion, echoing claims Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have used to defend the war.
"It's shocking to me that Congress is so willing to funnel $14 billion in military equipment over and over again into Ukraine and you have to ask, is this money and is this United States military equipment falling into the hands of Nazis in Ukraine?" Greene, who is from Georgia, told BKP politics, a local conservative talk show.
Putin defended his war by claiming it was aimed at "de-nazifying" Ukraine, which historians and experts have repeatedly debunked. It's true that Ukraine is home to some ultranationalist movements. But as Olga Lautman, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told NPR they make up a small fraction of the Ukrainian population. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also Jewish and has family members who were killed in the Holocaust.
Lawmakers rushed to include the aid for Ukraine in a $1.5 trillion must-pass government spending bill. Before its passage, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the news that lawmakers had significantly increased funding for Ukraine.
Greene said a slew of US officials, including the late-Sen. John McCain, are to blame for pushing Ukraine to move toward the west. She added that Ukraine would have been better off it had stayed neutral like Finland. Putin also said the invasion was necessary due to NATO's expansion. Greene said she wanted to make sure it's clear that she is not a Putin sympathizer.
"Now, you see Ukraine just kept poking the bear, poking the bear, which is Russia and Russia invaded," Greene said. "Russia is being very successful in their invasion even though we hear different things on television — the things we see and we know are actually happening there, I don't see a way out for Ukraine."
But Greene also ignored recent history in blaming the US for Ukraine's actions. Her comments come as other far-right figures express sympathy for some of Russia's views. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican from North Carolina, was widely admonished by top party leaders for calling Zelenskyy a "thug."
It was the Ukrainian people who rose up in 2014 and ousted a Kremlin-ally from power. Russia responded shortly thereafter by backing an invasion of Crimea. It was also Russia that told the world its troops in Belarus were there for training purposes before shelling Ukraine's largest cities. Zelenskyy applied for emergency admission to NATO and the European Union only after Russian troops began their invasion. Zelenskyy has even suggested taking NATO membership off the table.
Greene also repeated the Kremlin's claims about biolabs in Ukraine. As The Washington Post documented, Russia has for years alleged nefarious activities at US-supported labs that study diseases and pathogens. Russia's focus on the labs comes amid western fears of a potential chemical weapon attack. US officials have repeatedly stressed that the US backs medical research. This is fundamentally different than the development of offensive bioweapons, the existence of which is outlawed by international treaties. Moscow has been accused in recent years of deploying chemical weapons.
"I'm working on a bill to ban all US funding of bioweapons," Greene said. "After two years of COVID-19 ... we should be very cognizant of how US tax dollars are being spent on biolabs and be very, very persistent to be sure they're never being spent on bioweapons."
A spokesperson for Greene didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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