Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. John Curtis said Monday he was "deeply troubled" with the decision by the United States to vote against a U.N. resolution to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Curtis joined KSLNewsRadio's "Utah's Morning News" on Tuesday to discuss the move, which is a big policy shift for the U.S.
A partial transcript is provided below.
CURTIS: Well, all I can tell you is if you look at who signed that with us, Russia, North Korea, right? These are not our friends and these are not traditionally people we have aligned with.
And I do think it's important to point out that that resolution doesn't necessarily reflect the Senate. As a matter of fact, we actually issued independently a resolution yesterday (Monday), nine Republicans, nine Democrats, acknowledging the three-year anniversary and acknowledging that Ukraine was invaded by a dictator.
HOST AMANDA DICKSON: So why would we vote with Russia and North Korea?
CURTIS: Like I said, I don't get it. I'm troubled and we wanted to speak out as senators and say we're not aligned with that. I don't try to get into the president's head. I think we've all learned not to try to outguess the president where he's going. But I can tell you, as for me and my Senate colleagues, we were pretty firm about where we were at on this.
HOST ANDY FARNSWORTH: Like I know you've said before, you don't want to speculate on his negotiating tactics, but I mean, could this be a part of that?
CURTIS: I don't even dare guess, go there. But I can tell you this: We are solid in the Senate. We are based on trust, truth, and principles of freedom. Utahns are freedom-seeking people. We came to Utah to seek religious freedom. I think my constituents want to see a freedom prevail.
DICKSON: Are you concerned about the message this sends to our allies?
CURTIS: Of course, right? I don't know how you square that right now if you're Taiwan. And really interesting, Israel joined us yesterday (Monday) in our vote. I don't know what was behind that, but I think if you're Israel, it's pause for concern. I think it's clearly pause for concern for Europe.
DICKSON: Do you believe that Ukraine should give up some land in return for peace in their country?
CURTIS: This is where I totally agree with President Trump. What that looks like and how we get there — I'm more concerned that Putin doesn't get to declare a victory and doesn't feel victorious than the exact details of how we get there. But that's what's important to me is that Putin doesn't walk away with the win.
FARNSWORTH: Senator, do you feel that U.S. money has been wasted by helping Ukraine?
CURTIS: I've been supportive and I do think that's a fair debate and I know a lot of people in Utah are concerned about that. In my opinion, those have been dollars well spent. Yes, I would like to be able to account for every single dollar and I'd like to know exactly where every dollar went. But I've felt from the beginning that the U.S. preventing a Putin victory there, without losing a single American life, was a pretty good investment. And that gave us an insurance policy against Putin's aggression in the future against other countries, which could be a NATO country.
DICKSON: Referring to that mineral negotiation, should we be negotiating to be paid back while Ukraine is still being bombed?
CURTIS: I think it's fine to introduce the topic, right? I think it's a fair conversation. I think there's a — what we're looking for here is a tremendous win for both countries. If done right, both countries could really benefit by this.
We can help Ukraine in a way other people can't with those minerals. I'd rather have it be the United States than China. I'd rather have it be the United States than Russia.
I'd also just kind of remind everybody, really most of what the U.S. sent over there was outdated assets that we didn't want. It was humanitarian aid, and I just think that we got to rethink what really is a victory over there for the United States and what's not.
