Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier

Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov attends a ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. (AP)
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Updated 24 June 2025
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Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier

Fearing war with Russia, Finland hardens NATO’s north frontier
  • A Finnish government defense report late last year described “a heightened risk of an armed conflict,” citing the development of Russia’s military capabilities since the start for the war in Ukraine
  • Finland has since announced plans to stockpile land mines

LAPPEENRANTA: At a shooting range 10 miles from the Russian border, Finnish army reservist Janne Latto opened the trunk of his car and unpacked a small surveillance drone and controller, equipment he sees as vital for any future conflict with Finland’s neighbor.
Since the invasion of Ukraine prompted Helsinki to join NATO two years ago, tensions reminiscent of the Cold War have resurfaced along the forested 1,340-km (833-mile) frontier, Europe’s longest with Russia. The Nordic nation is beefing up an already-sizeable reservist force and will host a new command for NATO, whose members meet in the Hague on June 24 for an annual summit. Still under construction, an imposing barbed-wire-topped fence now dominates a once-bustling section of the border, closed by Finland after it accused Russia of weaponizing migration. Shopping malls and restaurants that buzzed with Russian visitors have fallen quiet. On the other side, Russia has slowly begun dusting off Soviet-era military bases, satellite images show. Kyiv’s June 1 attack on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, including at the Olenya airfield near northern Finland, brought the war in Ukraine closer to home.
For this story, Reuters spoke to a dozen people in Finland’s border region, where the emerging divisions have left some unable to visit relatives and caused economic losses. Others supported the measures, citing a need to prepare for and deter future conflict. At the shooting range — near the lakeside town of Lappeenranta, some 100 miles from Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg — Latto said the Lauritsala Reservists were training with three drones including the Parrot Anafi surveillance vehicle, used by the professional armies of several NATO members, including Finland.
A grant from Finland’s association of reservist groups meant ten more were on order, he said.
The 2022 assault on Ukraine hardened 47-year-old Latto’s perception of Russia.
“What if they decide to come and change the border, just like they went to Ukraine,” said Latto, who runs a small business assembling neon signs and billboards.
He recalled Soviet attempts to invade during World War Two, and how Finland was forced to cede approximately 10 percent of its territory to Russia, including Ayrapaa, a nearby municipality that his grandfather died defending in 1944.
The countries each insist they pose no threat to the other. Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said some level of Russian buildup is a normal response to Helsinki’s accession to NATO, which more than doubled the length of Russia’s border with the alliance.
However, a Finnish government defense report late last year described “a heightened risk of an armed conflict,” citing the development of Russia’s military capabilities since the start for the war in Ukraine, and saying Moscow had ambitions to create a “buffer zone” from the Arctic to Southern Europe. Finland has since announced plans to stockpile land mines. It banned Finnish-Russian dual nationals from flying drones and Russians from buying property, and last week warned that mobile signals were disrupted in regions near Russia.
“Finland is responsible for over half of the entire land border between NATO countries and Russia,” Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen posted on X on Thursday, saying the country’s defense posture was to ensure the border “remains inviolable.” Finland’s presidency declined to comment for this story. Russia’s foreign ministry did not respond to a comment request. President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denied any plans to attack NATO. He said he did not see NATO rearmament as a threat. After Finland joined the alliance, Moscow announced plans to strengthen military capacity in Russia’s west and northwest.
The activities of the Finnish reservists, who also use firearms in target practice, are voluntary, although most have completed Finland’s long-standing mandatory male conscription.
More than 50,000 Finns take part in such clubs, up by about a third since before the Ukraine war, according to the Finnish Reservists’ Association, with a similar increase in the number of reservists called up by the military for refresher training. Even older members of Latto’s band of volunteers could see service in a crisis, as Finland raises the reserve’s upper age limit to 65 to add 125,000 troops to a wartime army, and to take the number of reservists to one million by 2031.
He welcomed the extended military service, saying older reservists could be drone or radar operators.
“You don’t have to run with the infantry to be a part of the modern battlefield,” said Latto, a skilled hobbyist who has made his own first-person-view goggles to control a homemade drone.

SPLIT FAMILIES
Some businesses are unhappy with the changes. Shopping malls and restaurants once buzzing with Russian visitors are noticeably emptier. Up to 13 million annual cross-border trips have ended, affecting dual citizens with family in Russia.
The vanishing Russian tourists and dearth of trade has taken at least 300 million euros annually from a 5.5 billion euro local economy, the region’s council said. Unemployment soared to close to 15 percent at the end of last year, higher than the national average.
Antique shopkeeper Janne Tarvainen said that previously, some locals complained the Russian visitors had made it hard to get reservations in restaurants or find parking spots.
“I saw it differently – money was coming into the town,” said Tarvainen, who is now looking for online shoppers to replace Russian footfall.
Oksana Serebriakova, 50, whose grandfather was Finnish, moved to Lappeenranta from Moscow after the COVID-19 pandemic looking for better opportunities for her 17-year-old son Vitalik. Her older son and the boys’ father stayed in the Russian capital, with plans for frequent visits.
The border closure has split the family, creating “a very sad situation,” said Serebriakova, who is studying for a business administration diploma at a local vocational college.
The migration problem “could have been solved” with measures such as strict checks at entry points similar to airports, she suggested.
Finland has around 38,000 dual citizens, official data shows, considerably less than other countries bordering Russia. About 420,000 Finns who lived in territory ceded to Russia after World War Two settled in Finland.
Ivan Deviatkin, a local politician who has a son in Finland and an aging mother in Russia, unsuccessfully challenged the border closure in Finland’s courts. Nine plaintiffs now have a complaint pending hearing at the European Court of Human Rights, which has asked Finland to justify the shutdown.

’RE-BORDERING’
For decades after World War Two, Finland gradually opened trade and travel connections with Russia.
Now though, the E18 motorway that links Helsinki and St. Petersburg ends abruptly at metal barricades at the border, as do other previously busy roads. Finland closed the frontier over the arrivals of undocumented migrants in 2023, which Helsinki viewed as a Russian policy response to its accession to NATO. Moscow said it was abiding by rules and that Finland had adopted an anti-Russia stance.
At the time, the borderline was hardly visible, mostly marked only by poles or a low barrier to keep domestic animals from wandering off, with a small trail for occasional canine patrols to follow. In place of that, Finland is raising 200 km (124 miles) of 4.5-meter (15 ft)-high fence dotted with cameras and motion sensors in the most passable areas of the forest-covered 1,340-km (833 mile) border. A new dirt road runs parallel for quicker access by border guards.
The changes had made “a big, big impact,” said Finnish Border Guard Head of Operations Samuel Siljanen.
“We’ve moved kind of from an era of de-bordering to one of re-bordering,” he said.

NATO COMMAND
Hopes for a quick detente run low. Helsinki believes Russia will reinforce the neighboring Leningrad military region once the war in Ukraine ends, president Stubb has said, although he downplays any threat from Russia so far.
Behind the border, satellite images show Russia beginning some work on garrisons, including building new warehouses. A senior government official aware of Finland’s military planning described such work as minor and not a threat. Finland has long had a strong military. It has ordered 64 US-made F-35s to modernize its fighter jet fleet. It has the largest artillery arsenal in Western Europe, another official said.
The sources requested anonymity to speak about sensitive matters.
It is important “to signal credibly to Russia that it’s not worth it,” said Chatham House associate fellow Minna Alander, whose research includes work on Finnish and Northern European security. She said Finland was not a threat to Russia.
“NATO will never attack Russia, and I believe they know this,” Alander said.
The new NATO northern headquarters will host around 50 officers from countries including the US and UK together with the Finnish Army Command, in the eastern Finnish town of Mikkeli, a two-hour drive from the border.
“In the event that we ever moved into a conflict, this headquarters would be working alongside NATO forces in a command and control role,” Brig. Chris Gent of the Allied Land Command told Reuters on a visit in Finland.


Trump says he is disappointed in Putin

Trump says he is disappointed in Putin
Updated 3 sec ago
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Trump says he is disappointed in Putin

Trump says he is disappointed in Putin
  • US leader will also speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday
  • The Kremlin earlier said Putin told Trump that Moscow will not ‘give up’ on its aims in Ukraine

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump told reporters early on Friday he is disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin and does not think Putin will stop the war in Ukraine.

Trump also said he will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump said that a phone call Putin resulted in no progress at all on efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

“No, I didn’t make any progress with him at all,” Trump told reporters on Thursday when asked if he had moved closer toward a deal to end Russia’s invasion, adding that he was “not happy” about the ongoing war.

The Kremlin earlier said Putin told Trump that Moscow will not “give up” on its aims in Ukraine.

The pair spoke as US-led peace talks on ending the more than three-year-old conflict in Ukraine have stalled and after Washington paused some weapons shipments to Kyiv.

The Kremlin said the call lasted almost an hour.

Trump has been frustrated with both Moscow and Kyiv as US efforts to end fighting have yielded no breakthrough.

“Our president said that Russia will achieve the aims it set, that is to say the elimination of the root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

“Russia will not give up on these aims.”

Moscow has long described its maximalist aims in Ukraine as getting rid of the “root causes” of the conflict, demanding that Kyiv give up its NATO ambitions.

Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and Russia now controls large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Even so, Putin told Trump that Moscow would continue to take part in negotiations.

“He also spoke of the readiness of the Russian side to continue the negotiation process,” Ushakov added.

“Vladimir Putin said that we are continuing to look for a political, negotiated solution to the conflict,” Ushakov said.

Moscow has for months refused to agree to a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Putin of dragging out the process while pushing on with Russia’s advance in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said that Putin had also “stressed” to Trump that all conflicts in the Middle East should be solved “diplomatically,” after the US struck nuclear sites in Russia’s ally Iran.

Putin and Trump spoke as Kyiv said that Russian strikes on Thursday killed at least eight people in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was visiting ally Denmark on Thursday.

A senior Ukrainian official said that Trump and Zelensky planned to speak to each other on Friday.

The US deciding to pause some weapons shipments has severely hampered Kyiv, which has been reliant on Western military support since Moscow launched its offensive in 2022.

Zelensky told EU allies in Denmark that doubts over US military aid reinforced the need for greater cooperation with Brussels and NATO.

He stressed again that Kyiv had always supported Trump’s “unconditional ceasefire.”

On Wednesday, Kyiv scrambled to clarify with the US what a White House announcement on pausing some weapons shipments meant.

“Continued American support for Ukraine, for our defense, for our people is in our common interest,” Zelensky had said on Wednesday.

Russia has consistently called for Western countries to stop sending weapons to Kyiv.


North Korean detained after crossing land border: Seoul military

North Korean detained after crossing land border: Seoul military
Updated 32 min 38 sec ago
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North Korean detained after crossing land border: Seoul military

North Korean detained after crossing land border: Seoul military
  • The Military Demarcation Line is the de facto border area separating the two Koreas
  • ‘Relevant authorities’ to investigate the detailed circumstances of the incident

SEOUL: A North Korean who crossed the heavily fortified land border into the South has been detained and taken into custody, Seoul’s military said Friday.

The North Korean, identified as a male civilian, managed to cross the Military Demarcation Line in the midwestern part of the Demilitarized Zone on Thursday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The MDL is the de facto border, which runs through the middle of the DMZ – the border area separating the two Koreas, which is one of the most heavily mined places on earth.

“The military identified the individual near the MDL, conducted tracking and surveillance,” the JCS said in a statement.

It then “successfully carried out a standard guiding operation to secure custody,” it added.

The operation took about 20 hours, according to Seoul, after the man was detected by a military surveillance device sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Thursday (1800 to 1900 GMT).

The mission to safely guide him to the South involved a considerable number of South Korean troops, the JCS said, and took place in an area difficult to navigate due to dense vegetation and land mine risks.

The man stayed mostly still during the day, and South Korea’s military approached him at night.

He willingly followed the troops after they offered to guide him safely out of the DMZ, according to the JCS.

It said “relevant authorities” will investigate the detailed circumstances of the incident.

North Koreans are typically handed over to Seoul’s intelligence agency for screening when they arrive in the South.

The incident comes after a North Korean soldier defected to the South by crossing the MDL in August last year.

Also last year, another North Korean defected to the South across the de facto border in the Yellow Sea, arriving on Gyodong island off the peninsula’s west coast near the border between the Koreas.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s, with most going overland to neighboring China first, then entering a third country such as Thailand before finally making it to the South.

Defections across the land border that divides the peninsula are relatively rare.

The number of successful escapes dropped significantly from 2020 after the North sealed its borders – purportedly with shoot-on-sight orders along the land frontier with China – to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

No unusual activities by the North Korean military have been detected, the JCS said Friday.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last month, has vowed a more dovish approach toward Pyongyang compared with his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol.

“Politics and diplomacy must be handled without emotion and approached with reason and logic,” Lee said Thursday.

“Completely cutting off dialogue is really a foolish thing to do.”


Trump orders national park entry fees hike for foreign tourists

Trump orders national park entry fees hike for foreign tourists
Updated 59 min 13 sec ago
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Trump orders national park entry fees hike for foreign tourists

Trump orders national park entry fees hike for foreign tourists
  • US president: ‘The national parks will be about America First’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday said national parks would hike entry fees for foreign tourists to “improve affordability” for Americans, as he launched the country’s year-long 250th birthday celebrations.

“For this anniversary, I’ve just signed an executive order to raise entrance fees for foreign tourists while keeping prices low for Americans,” Trump told a cheering crowd at a rally in Iowa.

“The national parks will be about America First,” the Republican leader said, after issuing an executive order.

In it, Trump also instructed the interior and state departments to “encourage international tourism to America’s national parks.”

The order outlined that revenue raised was to be used to improve the infrastructure and “enhance enjoyment” of the country’s vast national park system.

It is a rare move by the climate skeptic president to promote the environment and green spaces.

In the executive order, Trump also revoked a 2017 directive by former president Barack Obama on “promoting diversity and inclusion in our national parks,” in his latest attack on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives.

Some conservation groups have however voiced concerns about hundreds of National Park Service permanent staff members being laid off since Trump took office in January, ahead of peak tourist season in summer.


Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. arrested by ICE for deportation, federal officials say

Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. arrested by ICE for deportation, federal officials say
Updated 04 July 2025
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Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. arrested by ICE for deportation, federal officials say

Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. arrested by ICE for deportation, federal officials say
  • The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in California
  • Homeland Security said Chavez had overstayed a tourist visa that he entered the US with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024

LOS ANGELES: Famed Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been arrested for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, US federal officials said Thursday.

The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim, California. The Department of Homeland Security said officials determined Chavez should be arrested on June 27, a day before the fight. It was unclear why they waited to act for days after the high-profile event.

The boxer was riding a scooter when agents detained him

The 39-year-old boxer, according to his attorney Michael Goldstein, was picked up Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of a home where he resides in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City near Hollywood.

“The current allegations are outrageous and simply another headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said.

Many people across Southern California are on edge as immigration arrests have ramped up, prompting protests and the federal deployment of National Guard troops and US Marines to downtown Los Angeles.

Goldstein did not know where Chavez was being detained as of Thursday morning, but said he and his client were due in court Monday in connection with prior gun possession charges.

Before his recent bout, Chavez fought once since 2021

Before his bout with Paul on Saturday, Chavez had fought just once since 2021, having fallen to innumerable lows during a lengthy boxing career conducted in the shadow of his father, Julio César Chavez, one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame who won championships in several weight classes.

The son, who has battled drug addiction for much of his career, has been arrested repeatedly. In 2012, he was convicted of drunk driving in Los Angeles and sentenced to 13 days in jail and in January 2024 he was arrested on gun charges. Police said he possessed two AR-style ghost rifles. He was later freed on a $50,000 bond and on condition he went to a residential drug treatment facility. The case is still pending, with Chavez reporting his progress regularly.

He split his time between both countries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Chavez for overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the US with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The agency also said Chavez submitted multiple fraudulent statements when he applied for permanent residency on April 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a US citizen, Frida Muñoz. She is the mother of a granddaughter of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

US officials said he is believed to be an affiliate of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel that is blamed for a significant portion of Mexico’s drug violence.

Federal officials called Chavez a public safety threat

US Citizenship and Immigration Services flagged Immigration and Customs Enforcement about Chavez on Dec. 17, saying he “is an egregious public safety threat,” and yet he was allowed back into the country without a visa on Jan. 4 under the Biden administration, the agency said.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said that an arrest warrant against “Julio “C was issued in Mexico in March 2023 in an investigation of organized crime and arms trafficking allegations and that Mexico on Thursday initiated extradition proceedings.

A federal agent who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed to The Associated Press that “Julio C” is Chavez. The agent declined to explain why Chavez was not arrested earlier in Mexico despite going back and forth between the two countries multiple times.

In Mexico, mixed feelings followed the arrest

In Mexico, word of US agents arresting a well-known athlete prompted mixed feelings.

Martín Sandoval Peñaloza, a newspaper seller in Mexico City, said he believes President Donald Trump wanted to make him an example.

“I think that the US government — in this case, Trump – is up to something,” he said, adding that it was “to attract media attention.”

Oscar Tienda, a Mexico City storekeeper, said he wasn’t surprised given the boxer’s troubles.

“I think it was predictable because he has had a lifetime of drug use,” he said.

Despite widely being criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport, Chavez still rose to its heights. He won the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defended it three times. Chavez shared the ring with generational greats Canelo Álvarez and Sergio Martinez, losing to both.

Chavez claimed to be clean for the Paul fight. He looked in his best shape in years while preparing for the match.

Chavez said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times ahead of his fight with Paul that he and his trainers were shaken by the immigration arrests.

“There are a lot of good people, and you’re giving the community an example of violence,” Chavez said. “After everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t want to be deported.”


MAGA faithful cheer Trump for pausing Ukraine weapons after bristling at Iran strikes

MAGA faithful cheer Trump for pausing Ukraine weapons after bristling at Iran strikes
Updated 04 July 2025
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MAGA faithful cheer Trump for pausing Ukraine weapons after bristling at Iran strikes

MAGA faithful cheer Trump for pausing Ukraine weapons after bristling at Iran strikes
  • With the Ukraine pause, Trump is sending the message to his MAGA backers that he is committed to following through on his campaign pledge to wind down American support for Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is getting praise from his most ardent supporters for withholding some weapons from Ukraine after they recently questioned the Republican leader’s commitment to keeping the US out of foreign conflicts.
This week’s announcement pausing deliveries of key air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment to Ukraine comes just a few weeks after Trump ordered the US military to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Bombing those sites in Iran had some hardcore supporters of the “Make America Great Again” movement openly questioning whether Trump was betraying his vow to keep America out of “stupid wars” as he inserted the US military into Israel’s conflict with Tehran.
With the Ukraine pause, which affects a crucial resupply of Patriot missiles, Trump is sending the message to his most enthusiastic backers that he is committed to following through on his campaign pledge to wind down American support for Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia, a conflict he has repeatedly described as a costly boondoggle for US taxpayers.
“The choice was this: either prioritize equipping our own troops with a munition in short supply (and which was used to defend US troops last week) or provide them to a country where there are limited US interests,” Dan Caldwell, who was ousted as a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, posted on X.
Caldwell publicly worried before the Iran strikes that US involvement could incite a major war and ultimately cost American lives.
Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec, another ardent MAGA backer, warned as Trump weighed whether to carry out strikes on Iran last month that such a move “would disastrously split the Trump coalition.”
He was quick to cheer the news about pausing some weapons deliveries to Ukraine: “America FIRST,” Posobiec posted on X.
Both the White House and the Pentagon have justified the move as being consistent with Trump’s campaign pledge to limit US involvement in foreign wars.
“The president was elected on an America first platform to put America first,” Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said.
At the same time, the decision is stirring anxiety among those in the more hawkish wing of the Republican Party. Many are flummoxed by Trump’s halting the flow of US arms just as Russia accelerates its unrelenting assault on Ukraine.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who hails from a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, wrote to Trump and the Pentagon on Wednesday expressing “serious concern” about the decision and requesting an emergency briefing.
“We can’t let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin prevail now. President Trump knows that too and it’s why he’s been advocating for peace,” Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, wrote on X. “Now is the time to show Putin we mean business. And that starts with ensuring Ukraine has the weapons Congress authorized to pressure Putin to the negotiating table.”
Trump spoke by phone with Putin on Thursday, the sixth call between the leaders since Trump’s return to office. The leaders discussed Iran, Ukraine and other issues but did not specifically address the suspension of some US weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser.
Zelensky said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he hopes to talk to Trump in the coming days about the suspension.
The administration says it is part of global review of the US stockpile and is a necessary audit after sending nearly $70 billion in arms to Ukraine since Putin launched the war on Ukraine in February 2022.
The pause was coordinated by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby.
Colby, before taking his position, spoke publicly about the need to focus US strategy more on China, widely seen as the United States’ biggest economic and military competitor. At his Senate confirmation hearing in March, he said the US doesn’t have a “multi-war military.”
“This is the restrainers like Colby flexing their muscle and saying, ‘Hey, the Pacific is more important,’” said retired Navy Adm. Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Backers of a more restrained US foreign policy say the move is necessary, given an unsettled Middle East, rising challenges in Asia and the stress placed on the US defense industrial complex after more than three years of war in Ukraine.
“You’re really coming up to the point where continuing to provide aid to Ukraine is putting at risk the US ability to operate in future crises,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities. “And you don’t know when those crises are going to happen.”
“So you have to be a little bit cautious,” she added.