George W Bush has condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine, describing it as “the gravest security crisis on the European continent since World War II”.
Mr Bush spoke on Thursday, hours after Russia began its attack on multiple targets within Ukrainian territory, including its capital city. President Joe Biden was set to speak in a national address Thursday afternoon. Former President Donald Trump has yet to address the crisis since the invasion began.
The 43rd US president said in a statement that the US government and people must “stand in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as they seek freedom and the right to choose their own future”.
“I join the international community in condemning Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” said Mr Bush. He added: “We cannot tolerate the authoritarian bullying and danger that Putin poses.”
His statement, particularly the words about Mr Putin, were markedly different than the remarks the other living Republican former president, Mr Trump, made earlier this week in a series of statements and an interview with two conservative hosts. Mr Trump has largely stuck to the effusive praise of Mr Putin that became a staple of his foreign policy while president, and praised the Russian leader’s previous order of so-called “peacekeeping” troops into Crimea as a supposedly “genius” move to which the US allegedly had no response.
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#NEW Former President George W. Bush condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Full statement below. @CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/cw5ovHDhJU
— Jack Fink (@cbs11jack) February 24, 2022
Mr Bush’s statement was much more in line with previous statements issued by Mr Biden as well as statements issued by congressional Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, who like Mr Biden have roundly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called for strict sanctions against Moscow.