Rep. Chris Stewart to Newsmax: Threat to Arm Resistance Would Stop Putin

The one way President Joe Biden can stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine would be to announce plans to arm Ukrainian freedom fighters in their push back against a Russian invasion, Rep. Chris Stewart said Thursday on Newsmax.

"[Putin] is not afraid of losing Russian troops in an invasion," the Utah Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "They will take that, and the Russian people will accept that."

The Russians, however, will not accept another situation like the country faced in Afghanistan, with "resistance freedom fighters who are killing Russians every week and sending them home in body bags," Stewart said. "We certainly learned that lesson from Afghanistan and so did Russia."

A commitment from Biden to arm and support the resistance, he added, could make Putin rethink plans for an invasion, Stewart added, "and it's probably the only hope we have of avoiding a catastrophe in the region."

However, Stewart said he thinks it is not likely that Putin decides against an invasion.

"The one hope that we have is if we can instill the fear and the reality that he's going to be dealing with a bloody resistance," said Stewart. "The Ukrainian people do not want to be part of Russia. They want to be free. They want to be a free and independent nation.

"They're going to fight for that, and if we were to give them support, that is the one thing, as I said, that may change Vladimir Putin's mind."

His comments came after Biden said Thursday that there is a "very high" risk of an invasion that could happen within several days.

The president also said the United States has seen no proof of Russia's claims that it has pulled back some troops near the Ukraine border, and that there is reason to believe Russia will be "engaged in a false flag operation" to provide an excuse for an attack.

"You know, it was just yesterday over the last 48 hours or so when some media were reporting that Russia was beginning to withdraw some of their troops," said Stewart, but Russia can't be believed.

"It's just one more example of how they're going to use misinformation propaganda to move this forward," said Stewart. "There's a very serious threat here. It changes the international security world in a meaningful way."

Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows that just 34% of respondents approve of how Biden is handling the Russia-Ukraine situation, but Stewart said he suspects that part of that response isn't based only on Ukraine, but reflects a lack of trust overall in the president.

"For heaven's sake, after the debacle in Afghanistan, and now we have another international crisis, why in the world would the American people start with the foundation of trust in this president? They simply don't," said Stewart. "He has to earn their trust when it comes to international leadership, and he hasn't done that."

The congressman also commented on legislation he's introduced against mask mandates for children and said it's become "incredibly unpopular" with Americans to force children to wear masks in schools.

"It's pretty remarkable how we're seeing a lot of these blue state political leaders who say follow the science and suddenly are changing their minds as we get closer to the election," said Stewart. "We know that children are the least vulnerable to the virus. We know that they have the natural ability to survive far more than older folks who should be protected."

He added that it will "take a generation" to fully understand how having to wear masks will affect today's children, "when there is no science to support it."

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