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2020 presidential candidates on Russia

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Republican Party Donald Trump
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Libertarian Party Jo Jorgensen

This page includes statements from the 2020 presidential candidates on Russia. These statements were compiled from each candidate's official campaign website, editorials, speeches, and interviews. Click the following links for policy statements about related issues: foreign policy, North Korea, Middle East and North Africa, and South and Central America.

The candidates featured on this page are the 2020 presidential nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green parties.

Republican Party Donald Trump
Democratic Party Joe Biden
Green Party Howie Hawkins
Libertarian Party Jo Jorgensen

Russia

Republican candidates

Donald Trump

Donald Trump's campaign website says, "The Trump Administration has directly confronted Russia for its threatening behavior to the U.S. and our allies. The Trump Administration has provided the sale of lethal weapons to Ukraine. The Trump Administration has enhanced its support for Ukraine’s Armed Forces to help Ukraine improve its ability to defend itself. The Trump Administration has provided more than a billion dollars to the European Defense initiative. The Trump Administration has applied numerous sanctions against Russia for its malicious cyber activities, its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and its chemical weapons use. The Administration has imposed diplomatic penalties on Russia including the expulsion of more than 50 Russian intelligence officials and the closing of two Russian consulates." [source, as of 2020-06-22]

Mark Sanford

Mark Sanford's campaign website does not include a position on Russia.

His website says about foreign policy, "I believe in Teddy Roosevelt's notion of speaking softly, but carrying a big stick. To do this, we must maintain a strong economy, because economic supremacy has always been the precursor to military supremacy. Among other things, this once again ties back to our own debt as a threat to our ability to protect power and maintain our place in the world." [source, as of 2019-09-10]

Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh's campaign website does not include a statement outlining his position on Russia. In an interview on MSNBC, Joe Walsh said, "We've got a president right now who gives a bear-hug, a man hug to Putin and Kim Jong-un and he stiff-arms our allies. I think we need to flip that around a little bit...When you and I were little boys, Russia was the enemy, our own FBI, they were the good guys. Donald Trump has flipped this around. He's disloyal. This will be one of the most dangerous long-term impacts of the Trump administration, how they have declared war on our own intelligence community." When asked whether he felt Russia should be readmitted to the Group of Seven, Walsh continued, "No, and I still think Putin must have something on him. It does not explain Donald Trump's subservient behavior." [source, as of 2019-08-26]

Bill Weld

Bill Weld's campaign website does not include a statement about Russia.

He said in a speech about foreign policy, "I would include issues like free trade and a robust engagement in foreign policy and robust use of soft power and diplomacy. Mr. Trump doesn’t do any of that because he thinks he’s the only person that knows anything. He has no use for soft power or diplomacy or, indeed, planning ahead. He likes to have a summit on no notice and with no preparation. There’s a reason why over the years, people thought that successful diplomacy required careful preparation and debriefing of the people who are going to conduct the negotiation." [source, as of 2019-02-15]

Democratic candidates

Joe Biden

Joe Biden's presidential camapign website says, "As president, Biden will pursue an extension of the New START Treaty, an anchor of strategic stability between the United States and Russia, and use that as a foundation for new arms control arrangements." [source, as of 2019-08-20]

Michael Bloomberg

Mike Bloomberg described Russian President Vladimir Putin in an op-ed as a "strongman who has annexed territory from his neighbors, destabilized U.S. allies in Eastern Europe, abetted war crimes in Syria, and meddled with the 2016 U.S. presidential election."

He continued, "There is, however, one opportunity for productive engagement: Putin’s desire to extend the New START nuclear weapons treaty, set to expire in 2021. The agreement (negotiated by the Obama administration) has flaws, but nonproliferation pacts are generally in the interests of the U.S. because our conventional military is unmatched. Agreeing to new talks has little downside, and the U.S. could use them to draw Russia back into compliance with the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces agreement." [source, as of 2018-07-15]

Cory Booker

In a response to a questionnaire sent by the Council on Foreign Relations, Booker said, "When it comes to Russian aggression, let's be clear: the Russians are not just attacking Ukraine, or the U.S.--they are trying to undermine democracy. They are attempting to create divisions and divisiveness between individual leaders as well as within nations, and that's unacceptable. The Trump Administration has looked the other way in the face of Russian aggression, whether that aggression is against Ukraine, which I visited and witnessed first-hand, or an attack on the integrity of our elections."

Booker continued, "As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee I signed a letter affirming Ukraine’s sovereignty, and voted to disapprove of President Trump’s decision to end sanctions on companies connected to Russian oligarchs. I support increasing the use of the Global Magnitsky sanctions and other tools to assert pressure on Russia into cooperation with the global community. We also need to mend our relationship with our transatlantic allies and NATO, which President Trump’s has undermined. I would seek to repair any doubts about the U.S. commitment to its allies and partners in NATO." [source, as of 2019-07-30]

Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg's campaign website says, "As the most unequal economy of any major power, Russia represents a striking example of what happens when a country attempts to set up capitalism without democracy. And the forces unleashed there—nationalism, xenophobia, homophobia, and the repression of the press–are both highly disturbing in that country and disturbingly ascendant in our own country."

His website continues, "Meanwhile, Russia throws its weight around abroad. Most egregiously of course, their unacceptable interference in our elections which weakened America both by helping to elect an unstable administration and by eroding confidence in our democracy itself. We must be ready to deter such behavior in the future—through diplomatic, economic, and even cyber tools and information operations. But we must also deal with the real weaknesses that the Russians exploited—not just the gaps in our technology but our capacity to be too easily turned against each other. In this sense, domestic problems from racism to social isolation have revealed themselves to be national security vulnerabilities. We’ve also seen regionally destabilizing Russian behavior, from activities on the Crimean Peninsula and in eastern Ukraine, to conduct with regard to intermediate-range missiles. Future U.S. policy towards Russia must include a regional security framework that promotes stability for Eastern Europe and incentivizes Russia to adhere to international norms. And central to this will be our partnerships—sadly fractured and endangered by this administration but ready to be renewed and reinvigorated. Seventy years after the founding of NATO, we must repair the strained relationships with our European allies—not because we owe them or they owe us, but because America is more effective when we work with strong and able partners, and when those partners can trust America’s word." [source, as of 2019-08-21]

Julián Castro

Julián Castro's campaign website did not include positions on Russia. Castro said the following about foreign policy in an interview with ABC, "I believe that today the greatest threat to our national security is the fact that this president is damaging the relationships we’ve had in place in the post-World War II era, whether it’s NATO or other alliances with individual countries, that have kept us safer. The first thing that I would do if I were president with regard to our relationships around the world is to strengthen them, because those alliances can help keep us safe." [source, as of 2019-01-06]

Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard tweeted, "Heightening tensions with Russia and China are sending us into a new Cold War. We need to be stepping up nuclear nonproliferation agreements, not rolling them back. Trumps actions threaten our national security and the future of our planet. Trump’s rejection of agreements such as the INF arms control treaty between the US and Russia will worsen the new Cold War and bring the world closer to nuclear war." [source, as of 2019-03-03]

Kamala D. Harris

Kamala Harris's campaign website says, "Turning our back on the world is not an option: the U.S. and our allies face real threats to our security – from Russian aggression to international terrorism – and we need to be clear-eyed, determined, and proactive in confronting them." [source, as of 2019-08-20]

Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar said in a speech, "I will jumpstart negotiations with Russia to extend the New START Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty, and restore the INF Treaty, that are linchpins in this global framework. Yes, we know that Russia was cheating on the INF Treaty. But that doesn’t mean that you precipitously withdraw from that treaty."

She also said, "We should continue, of course, to cooperate with Russia in areas where we have common interests, but also must be clear-eyed about the limits of productive engagement as long as Vladimir Putin is in power. Effectively standing up to his aggression means reasserting our commitment to NATO, it means strengthening sanctions against his regime and its enablers, and it means protecting our elections. It means major investment in cybersecurity." [source, as of 2019-12-11]

Beto O'Rourke

Beto O'Rourke's campaign website says, "Beto believes Russia threatens our national security—and democratic institutions around the world."

O'Rourke's website proposes the following: "Stand up to Russian aggression—whether it be their interference in our elections or military belligerence in Europe—by imposing sanctions on the Russian oligarchs that fund Putin’s corruption and the Russian banks that finance efforts to undermine democracy. Reinforce our historic alliance with NATO. Invest in cybersecurity to safeguard our elections." [source, as of 2019-08-27]

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders said during a speech that Russian President Vladimir Putin leads an authoritarian regime.

Sanders said the following in a speech: "Across the globe, the movement toward oligarchy runs parallel to the growth of authoritarian regimes – like Putin in Russia, Xi in China, Mohamed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and Viktor Orbán in Hungry among others. These leaders meld corporatist economics with xenophobia and authoritarianism. They redirect popular anger about inequality and declining economic conditions into violent rage against minorities — whether they are immigrants, racial minorities, religious minorities or the LGBT community. And to suppress dissent, they are cracking down on democracy and human rights." [source, as of 2019-06-12]

Thomas Steyer

Tom Steyer tweeted, "Russia didn’t 'meddle' in our election. They engaged in electronic warfare against our democracy. They attacked our system." [source, as of 2019-07-19]

Elizabeth Warren

In response to a Council on Foreign Relations questionnaire, Elizabeth Warren said, "By illegally annexing Ukrainian territory and fueling a war in eastern Ukraine, Russia has imperiled the vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace that prevailed for nearly a quarter century. Our response must be centered on a durable strategy that strengthens the security of NATO allies threatened by a resurgent Russia, supports Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and holds Russia accountable while also deterring further reckless actions."

Warren continued, "Ukraine faces immense challenges that will require patient, long-term diplomacy and support from the West. We should start by shoring up relations with our EU partners in order to maintain the strongest possible diplomatic front, and by keeping pressure on the Kremlin to encourage changes in behavior. Ukraine must also get serious about sweeping reforms to root out corruption, which Russia exploits to undermine Ukrainian democracy. Ultimately, Ukraine and Russia will have to negotiate a peace, and my administration will focus on setting the conditions for productive talks." [source, as of 2019-09-30]

Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang said during the first Democratic primary debate, "I think Russia is our greatest geopolitical threat, because they have been hacking our democracy successfully and they've been laughing...about it for the last couple of years. So we should focus on that before we start worrying about other threats." [source, as of 2019-06-28]

Green candidates

Howie Hawkins

Howie Hawkins' campaign website says, "I am calling for the US to take Russia up on its offers, rejected by the Bush and Obama administrations, to negotiate a cybersecurity treaty with provisions for deconfliction, verification, and inspection processes like those employed in peace and arms control treaties. The US should seek to expand cybersecurity treaties to include all countries win order to remove the threat of cyberwar to peace and democracy." [source, as of 2020-01-24]

Libertarian candidates

Jo Jorgensen

Jo Jorgensen's campaign website says the U.S. should not provide military assistance to defend Ukraine from Russia, prevent Russia from conducting airstrikes in Syria, or sell military weapons to India in order to counter Russian influence. [source, as of 2020-07-28]


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