US presidential candidate opposed Ukraine's entry into NATO

  The governor of Florida, a candidate for the US presidency from the Republican Party in the 2024 elections, opposed Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), considering it against US interests. According to AAA, Ron Desantis said: “I don’t think (Ukraine’s) membership in NATO is in our interests.” “In my opinion, the United States should not give Ukraine carte blanche unless it uses leverage to end the conflict,” he explained. This interview was published two days after US President Joe Biden met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Zelensky asked Biden for the US to continue military support for Kyiv. Biden previously said that now is not the right time for Ukraine to join NATO. At the same time, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky said that if NATO had agreed to Russia’s security proposals, the conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided. Some experts believe that the war in Ukraine began due to the West's negligence towards Moscow's security problems and the expansion of the presence of NATO forces near Russia's borders.