Fox News Guest Warns Putin Has Proven His Word Is Meaningless and He ‘Doesn’t Care if More Russians Die’
Fox News brought on author and drone expert Brett Velicovich on Friday to discuss the summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
“Brett, welcome. Good to have you here. Your thoughts as we get close to two hours at this point of these discussions?” began Fox anchor Martha MacCallum.
“Well, hey, Martha, I mean, my thoughts are every meeting, every minute this meeting continues is a great thing towards peace, right? My initial take, though, is that no matter what comes out of it, Putin’s word can never be trusted,” began Velicovich, adding:
Even if there’s a deal, there has to be real security guarantees to stop him from coming back in Ukraine after the president leaves office and only in his military actions following what I hope to be a very successful summit here. Well, we really know where he stands. But our thoughts on Putin’s character and lack of trustworthiness, it doesn’t really solve the immediate problem that doesn’t bring us closer to peace. People are dying.
I think our president’s had enough of that. I think he recognizes that endless war is not a strategy. Endless U.S. weapons and military support packages to Ukraine is not a strategy. The right strategy here is what it seems our president is working towards, which is quickly escalate tensions in order to de-escalate and do whatever it takes to create a deal before the killing gets worse.
And I really think Putin is only going to agree to a peace deal under duress, either economic duress or the threat of greater force. He’s only going to agree to peace if Moscow feels the pain at home, and if other countries in his axis start to feel this personal crusade he’s taken on to take Ukrainian land is going to affect their bottom line.
That means India, that means China, that means Iran, or anyone else who’s buying his oil. But my real concern is, if the president leans in on this messaging to try to appeal to Putin to stop more Russian soldiers’ deaths, it’s not going to resonate with Vladimir Putin. He may pretend that it does verbally in front of the president to appeal to his heart. But one thing I can promise you about Vladimir Putin is he does not care if more Russians die. So when the president says he wants to stop the killing, this is an American mentality to care about human life.
It’s not historically a Soviet Union one. Putin grew up in the wake of World War II, where over 10 million Russian soldiers were killed alone and even more civilians. So this may work to bring Zelensky to the table, to a deal, because his friends are being killed on the front lines, but Vladimir Putin’s friends are not being killed. He isn’t sending Moscow’s elite into battle. He’s sending prisoners. He’s sending those who have very little economic opportunity.
He grew up in the wake of World War II. He saw all of it. And we want the bloodshed to stop, but these soldiers are just pawns in his agenda. But what is going to matter and what is gonna resonate with him is better economic relationships with the West on the economy, on trade. Putin’s economy is a war economy right now, but it’s not doing well. The sanctions the president is pushing are putting pressure on his allies. And that’s why I think, in the end, with the president’s background, he’s the only one that can really do anything to put an end to this.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
