Russian TV Celebrates Trump's Project 2025 Ally: 'Don't Need Ukraine'

A former KGB agent praised an ex-Donald Trump administration staffer during a state television broadcast, suggesting that his foreign policy would implement the position that the U.S. "[doesn't] need Ukraine at all" should the former president win a second term in office.

Speaking on the Russia-1 channel, Andrey Bezrukov, a former KGB sleeper agent who is now a Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, described Elbridge Colby as "the ideologue of young Republicans."

Colby served as Trump's former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017-2018, and is reported to be in line for a senior national security post in a second Trump administration.

He is also a contributor to the 900-page Project 2025 document, which was created by right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation. The blueprint proposes to expand the powers of the president, fire "deep state" civil servants in the federal government to replace them with conservative loyalists, dismantle the Department of Education and other federal agencies, and impose tax cuts.

"We should look at these guys very carefully. Elbridge Colby is hanging out with three to four young Republican Senators. They are also about 40 years old or so. They will sit on the Hill for over 30 years," Bezrukov began in a state TV excerpt shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Julia Davis, the founder of the Russia Media Monitor watchdog group.

"Ideologically, they are very hard-line. This is the core that can assume the leading position in American foreign policy in the reshuffled Republican Party. Their position is very clear: it's in amazing contrast with [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken's," he said.

"They already said, and Elbridge has been saying it for a long time, we don't need Ukraine at all," Bezrukov continued. "It's a distraction on an unworthy object. We should unload this problem onto Europe. They have plenty of money, let them deal with it. We will deal with the real threat, China."

He added: "If a loss of Congress really takes place, these guys, Elbridge Colby, will determine the direction of the next Republican administration. He worked with Trump, they do very well together."

Newsweek has contacted Colby for comment by email.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee challenging Democratic President Joe Biden, has said repeatedly that if reelected, he would swiftly bring an end to the war in Ukraine by speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I will have that war settled between Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky as president-elect before I take office on January 20. I'll have that war settled," Trump said on June 27 during a debate with Biden, adding: "I'll get it settled fast, before I take office."

The next U.S. presidential election is scheduled for November 5.

Earlier this year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claimed that Trump told him he would pause U.S. military aid to Ukraine to end the war.

Responding to those claims, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement in March that Trump "believes European nations should be paying more of the cost of the conflict, as the U.S. has paid significantly more, which is not fair to our taxpayers."

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